The Right To Privacy In The United States
discuss such delicate issues, we have to question ourselves, “What exactly is privacy?” Privacy is defined as “the right to be let alone” (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). However, privacy is not such a simple concept. For ease of understanding, privacy, in this essay, is the ability of an individual or group to seclude information about themselves and to possess the right to retain anonymous.
Privacy can be generally broken down into three categories - physical, organizational and informational (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 2008). Possessing privacy is not just about preventing "intrusions into one's physical space or solitude” (Smith, 1994). Instead, rapid advances in technology have propelled the safeguarding of privacy to the next level. …show more content…
One instance is when surveillance is applied in the field of national security. After incessant terrorist attacks, several countries have taken strong but controversial steps to safeguard the nation. The United States, for example, created the United States Department of Homeland Security that has incorporated the USA PATRIOT Act that has expanded the Federal Government’s powers of surveillance, leaving some citizens very concerned about their rights to privacy (Panopticon: Government and Privacy in The New Millennium, …show more content…
David Lyon cites Bentham’s concept of allowing observers to monitor people without these people knowing whether they are being watched, at a given time (Lyon, 1999). This unprecedented level of monitoring by prying eyes located all over the network leads to non-violence, as opposed to Michel Foucault’s work of Discipline and Power.
It is easy to be blinded by the benefits surveillance can bring about. But this proliferation of surveillance has actually opened a can of worms. The collection and reuse of personal information is part of a panoptic sort that classifies people into different categories, including them in marketing scams or excluding them from certain life chances or essential services. Being profiled makes the common people easy targets of discrimination, causing them to suffer economic losses, public embarrassment, and these can have significant and long lasting consequences (Oscar,
Privacy can be generally broken down into three categories - physical, organizational and informational (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, 2008). Possessing privacy is not just about preventing "intrusions into one's physical space or solitude” (Smith, 1994). Instead, rapid advances in technology have propelled the safeguarding of privacy to the next level. …show more content…
One instance is when surveillance is applied in the field of national security. After incessant terrorist attacks, several countries have taken strong but controversial steps to safeguard the nation. The United States, for example, created the United States Department of Homeland Security that has incorporated the USA PATRIOT Act that has expanded the Federal Government’s powers of surveillance, leaving some citizens very concerned about their rights to privacy (Panopticon: Government and Privacy in The New Millennium, …show more content…
David Lyon cites Bentham’s concept of allowing observers to monitor people without these people knowing whether they are being watched, at a given time (Lyon, 1999). This unprecedented level of monitoring by prying eyes located all over the network leads to non-violence, as opposed to Michel Foucault’s work of Discipline and Power.
It is easy to be blinded by the benefits surveillance can bring about. But this proliferation of surveillance has actually opened a can of worms. The collection and reuse of personal information is part of a panoptic sort that classifies people into different categories, including them in marketing scams or excluding them from certain life chances or essential services. Being profiled makes the common people easy targets of discrimination, causing them to suffer economic losses, public embarrassment, and these can have significant and long lasting consequences (Oscar,