The Value of Privacy

Social Media outlets, apps, websites, etc, having access to information such as IP addresses, actual addresses, and other forms of personal, we must question if this what we want. For example, social media websites have recently started coming under fire for selling user data and personal information that is required to join the app, to third parties. These third parties then go and use your personal information to form ads that cater to your specific likes and wants based off of what an app like Instagram tracks. It’s frightening when you start to think about the implications of this. So much of everyone’s information is readably accessible by, realistically, anyone who truly wants it. Yet all of that is a sacrifice that some of us are willing to take due to benefits of these programs. Social Media has now become an integral part of society, and is now many individuals’ main source of income, exposure, news, shopping, and communication. Anyone who told you that social media has done nothing but harm to society would be disingenuous.
Now that was just the private side of things. In the public sector we have come to know that there are many precautions that governments put in place in the name of privacy. This up-take in precautions spawned after the events of 9/11. The patriots act for example took away several privacies such as the fact that the FBI is able to obtain your personal information without approval from a judge. This could be phone records, computer data, credit, history, and so much more. All of this easily accessible through what must have to participant in the society, that being technology. Yet, terrorist plots and cells have been destroyed before they can become a threat due to the passing of that bill so is truly a bad thing? Well in my opinion the potential dangers of this are substantial and it does raise questions about whether this act could lead to major civil rights abuses in the future. Going off of what we learned this could lead to potential enhancement of exploitation and feelings of powerlessness by the hands of our government officials if it goes any further.
Essentially this question boils down to are you willing to sacrifice your rights and individual privacy for the perceived convenience and safety that it could bring? I believe everyone will have to answer this question for themselves sooner than later.