Technological Advances in Analytics and Mobility: Positive and Negative Aspects of Technology

In “Privacy under Attack,” the authors discuss some potential ways of how our privacy could be in danger or stolen by companies or accessible by administration and corporations. According to the authors, some ways that our privacy could be in danger are first through video records and picture taken by traffic cameras and surveillance cameras for us. Second through illegal “wiretaps” by the government that could hear our conversations. Third, our privacy and personal data could be “monitored by corporations through the role of club cards, raffles, or refunds that outside companies’ collection of data about us can then be sold without noticing, given consumers the optional to search for the box on any frame to indicate they don’t want their personal

Worldwide use of computer technology in medicine began in the early 1950s with the rise of the computers. In 1949, Gustav Wagner established the first professional organization for informatics in Germany. Medical informatics research units began to appear during the 1970s in Poland and in the U.S. Since then the development of high-quality health informatics research, education and infrastructure has been a goal of the U.S. and the European Union. (NYU graduate training program, 2010) Changes in the healthcare environment produced fundamental shifts in the delivery of healthcare. The altering landscape of healthcare is creating a huge demand for health data analytics. The growth and maturity of healthcare informatics over the past decade has been a prime catalyst in positioning the healthcare industry for the changes posed by reform measures. By understanding the process of analytics, clinical informatics specialists say healthcare providers have the insight necessary to make the process adjustments in the future.(Riskin, 2013)

Personal interest in the right to privacy has intensified in recent years along with the rapid development of new technologies. A century later, these concerns remain, but many others have joined them. Advances in information and communications technology have increased our ability to collect, store and transmit data about individuals. While these advances could be considered useful, some see them as a situation where anyone can watch and record the actions of every individual, and where the individual has lost control over information about herself and thus over her very life. As a reaction to these concerns, new regulations have been formulated to define the rights of individuals and the limits on the use of technology with respect to personal information.

In the essay, “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty” by Nicholas Carr, he argues the importance of privacy when one is surfing the web. Carr writes how companies personalize ads they provide on the internet based on our personal information. We are not aware of the consequences and the information we disclose about ourselves on the internet. Everything we do on the internet is recorded and stored. Nicholas Carr uses ethos and counter argument/refutation to express to his audience that their privacy is being violated.

Government surveillance in the past was not a big threat due to the limitations on technology; however, in the current day, it has become an immense power for the government. Taylor, author of a book on Electronic Surveillance supports, "A generation ago, when records were tucked away on paper in manila folders, there was some assurance that such information wouldn 't be spread everywhere. Now, however, our life stories are available at the push of a button" (Taylor 111). With more and more Americans logging into social media cites and using text-messaging devices, the more providers of metadata the government has. In her journal “The Virtuous Spy: Privacy as an Ethical Limit”, Anita L. Allen, an expert on privacy law, writes, “Contemporary technologies of data collection make secret, privacy invading surveillance easy and nearly irresistible. For every technology of confidential personal communication…there are one or more counter-technologies of eavesdropping” (Allen 1). Being in the middle of the Digital Age, we have to be much more careful of the kinds of information we put in our digital devices.

Two informatics trends that I believe will positively affect the health care industry include tele health and electronic medical records. Telehealth is used “to provide interventions to improve medication adherence” (Shah, Simms, Barksdale, & Wu, 2015, p. #1). Having health care providers communicate with individuals who are in distant or remote areas can increase the amount of individuals who are getting the proper health, which can lead to health promotion; making individuals more aware of problems they can avoid. Informatics is made easy because the communication is often done in front of a T.V. or commuter

In the article “That’s No My Phone. That’s My Tracker”, Peter Maass, suggest in a seemingly, unbiased fashion, that unconsciously we are letting ourselves be tracked and investigated by simply using our cell phones, “Every year, private companies spend millions of dollars developing new services that track, store and share the words, movements and even the thoughts of their

Bates, D. W., Saria, S., Ohno-Machado, L., Shah, A., & Escobar, G. (2014). Big data in health care: using analytics to identify and manage high-risk and high-cost patients. Health Affairs, 33(7), 1123-1131.

How far is too far when it comes to privacy? In a rapidly developing digital age, the boundaries are constantly expanding as new technology emerges. Data mining is not going away, so the debate on privacy becomes increasingly relevant. The line between what is ethical and unethical quickly become blurred, and certain entities are bound to take advantage of that gray area. Corporations claim they are collecting private data for marketing research to serve more relevant advertising and increase profits. Despite the marketing benefits of digital data collection, it is unethical for corporations to collect private digital data without taking proper measures to protect privacy.

Privacy vs. security has been a hot topic of debate for every country around the world. The argument is whether or not the government should get to see all of its citizens information to keep its people more protected. However, in the article "Who Has the Right to Track You?", the author explains that corporations are seeking the right to purchase certain individuals private information. The author greatly shows the idea that companies are becoming too powerful and too demanding. In comparison, in the article "Private License Plate Scanners Amassing Vast Databases Open to Highest Bidders", the author describes how certain governments will sell technology to capture private

Don’t Track Me, a seven part internet-based documentary, gave incredible insight to how we are monitored as we use the internet. This documentary made several key points about the social consequences of surveillance. Not only are we signing away different parts of our privacy by hitting the “accept” button when we access public WiFi, we are feeding an industry that thrives on selling what it finds out about us as we browse through our Facebook news feed. Don’t Track Me argues that we should care about surveillance because it is hidden in everything that we do. We are being tracked everywhere we go, and with every internet-enabled device we use. This tracking is being sold to different companies: they are profiting off of invading your privacy.

Technology is constantly upgrading everyday and it creates unique challenges for individuals privacy rights while there are regulators looking to preserve both privacy rights and technological innovation. For awhile now society has been struggling on how to balance privacy rights and emerging technologies. For example, early as 1890, Newspapers and Photographs were on the rise and legal scholars called for added privacy protections, including enshrining those rights in criminal law. As people have a right to protect their privacy, it is still a struggle while promoting innovation in this fast increasing technology world we live in today.

Many of us think that we are living in a state of safe technology where no one is following you when you are online shopping, going on your social media pages, such as Facebook, or searching for online travel deals. How can a customer protect their privacy? “Mapping, and Sharing, the Consumer Genome” written by Natasha Singer, will tell us how the digital marketer provides sensitive information such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, interests, place of residence and purchases, and how it is being used, along with the concerns the consumers will face (Singer, 2012). The author proved her points based on her research, interviews and an expert opinion on a particular company called “Acxiom Corporation.”

“Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty” is an essay written by Nicholas Carr in 2010 in the Wall Street Journal. He said that there are chances that, “our personal data will fall into the wrong hands” (Carr 438). It means that people’s personal information might drop under the hands of hackers, data aggressors, and stalkers. In addition, Carr believes that “personal information may be used to influence our behavior and even our thoughts in ways that are invisible to us” (Carr 439). It means that the data aggressors misuse people’s information in opposite way or in a wrong way. For example, data aggressors steal the people’s personal information and use that information for their own benefits. Therefore, Carr believes that government should regulate the internet. Unlike Carr, Harper believes that people are responsible for their own information. They should be aware and concerned about potential dangers of posting their personal information on the internet. However, it’s people duty to be aware of its consequences before posting any of their personal

Information gathering, through networking, social media, and both on and offline storage have made it easier to collect information about an individual than ever before, with many concerns having arisen over the years about privacy and the ability to protect that privacy. As debates over personally identifiable information continue, one cornerstone remains a constant, ethics. Ethics are defined as “the standard by which human actions can be judged right and wrong (Online, 2012)”, but even that can be debated when discussed within the realm of information technology. Have you ever been to an internet shopping site and “trusted” the secure connection? Essentially, you are entrusting an inanimate system developed by an individual or group