Privacy is something that has increasingly been surrendered since technology began to advance. From our phone calls down to our clicks on websites are trackable and we’re being surveilled electronically all the time. It’s a weird concept to think about because these things being tracked seem to be helpful in more ways than not. When we need to find a friend we look at their location, when we need to figure out what website those pairs of shoes we liked were on we can trace our steps, when we’re looking for similar products, websites like Google can automatically recommend them for us based on website history/cookies. Now other countries outside the U.S. that have more of a totalitarian form of government, whether socialist or communist, use their data in different ways. In the micro lecture, I learned that during the Pandemic South Korea was notifying when citizens will get covid and notifying those who have been around them to help stop the spread. I don’t think I’m completely opposed to this, but it is blurry. When it comes to using technology in ways that are helpful for the community it makes sense. However, I do understand that people would much rather tell whomever themselves without the government intervening. There seems to be a thin line that has been drawn when it comes to our privacy and technology that is slowly beginning to get crossed. As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of benefits that come with this and I expect that the government helps communities use this data to their advantage. Now I know I’d much rather have personal data used in ways that are only helpful and not exploited in any way. What I mean by this is that if I am going through something in my personal life whether it’s physical or mental, if it doesn’t propose any immediate negative effects on someone else (airborne sickness), it should be information that is kept between me and the government and I’ll do with that information as I please. Meanwhile, other sicknesses that are a result of particular personal choices shouldn’t be shared or broadcast to anyone.
