Is Anything Really Private Anymore?

In today’s society, our personal information is becoming more and more public each day. Some information, we voluntarily put on display and share with others. Through social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook, we choose to display pictures from our latest vacation, inform people of our latest job offer and list what college we attend. In those instances, we choose to share that information with others. However, there are many other cases in which our information is being exposed without us choosing to share it. Many people do not realize that while they are talking on their cell phones, composing an email or walking outside that there information is being gathered, compiled and stored. Advanced technology and lack of legal restrictions are two major factors contributing to the weakening privacy rights of Americans.

Lack of Privacy and Cell Phones

Today, a cellphone is an item many people cannot live with out. Teenagers use cellphones to keep in touch with friends and maintain their social lives. Parents use cell phones to communicate with their children and schedule appointments. And, businessmen use cell phones as a way to keep in touch outside of the office. With the increased popularity of smart phones, people use cell phones beyond the realms of communication: reading articles, purchasing coffee and retrieving directions. While these technologies seem like a perk and a means of convenience, individuals do not realize the information that is being collected when utilizing these applications. When purchasing a cup of coffee using a smartphone’s Starbucks app, the consumer’s information is being shared over the phone network and transferred to the retail store. The article It’s Tracking Your Every Move and You May Not Even Know, explains exactly how cellphones infringe on our privacy. Telephone companies have the ability to track its users exact location, down to the point of latitude and longitude. We do not even realize that when we are walking around with a cell phone in our pocket, someone is tracking our every move.

Further, cell phone companies monitor call usage, store text message content and know who we make phone calls to. This information becomes a very valuable marketing tool. Not only do the cell phone companies use these facts to cater services to the user, they sell information to other companies. Now, without any permission or knowledge of the consumer, personal information is being given to a foreign, unknown company who will soon begin to target advertisements on the consumer based on this new information.  Our cell phone activities and the information that providers have, which consumers assume to be private, really is not all.

Government Regulations on Privacy

Unfortunately, government is not doing much to help Americans keep personal information private. Government has the access to this information due to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. This law was enacted in 1986 and therefore, does not protect individuals today who use modern technology. This privacy act makes enables service providers to see people’s location from GPS on cell phone, sell personal data to organizations and read/recover text messages. All of this can be done without a warrant The most recent government regulation that has been put into practice relates to GPS tracking. In district courts, judges have made decisions stating that cell phone tracking is unconstitutional. This happened in both Texas and New York. In Texas, the judge ruled that warrantless requests for cell phone data are unconstitutional. And in New York, the judge ruled that a warrant is required before government can gain location access from someone’s cell phone. However, these laws are not enforced in all states and thus, many people’s privacy is still jeopardized. What is even scarier is that people are unaware of all the information that government has access to.  

What should be done?

With changing habits and technologies, it is necessary that government update the legal system to ensure Americans still have privacy. One thing that can be done is legislative reform. The word “privacy” does not appear in the Constitution and thus we do not have a fundamental right to privacy. The article The Eternal Value of Privacy explains why the Constitution does not spell out a privacy right, "a future in which privacy would face constant assault was so alien to the framers of the Constitution that it never occurred to them to call out privacy as an explicit right." However, we must adapt the Constitution to our modern day, technological society. Beyond the Constitution, it is necessary to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to include digital communications that individuals engage in today. This would include adding privacy rights for email, mobile phones, cloud computing, etc. to the act.

Another aspect of reform is advocacy. It is important that individuals are made aware of privacy violations and advocate for privacy protection. There are many organizations fighting for privacy reform. One very strong organization is the American Civil Liberties Union. To learn more about privacy issues and taking action, visit their website.

The world is changing and always will be. That is why it is necessary to amend legislation to adapt to modern society. The only way to gain a right to privacy is to go public with our opinions. We must address these issues to the nation and government in hope of a future where our identity and information remains private.