The Great Technological Evolution And Emergence Of Social Media

The Vault 7 compares to Orwell’s Thought Police, he records, “...the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everyday all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.” (Ch. 1, P.1) In summary, Orwell’s guess for the future occurred, and anyone may be wiretapped, although in 1984, technology commenced with the inventions of a mobile phone and a camcorder; development of a powerful technological future was near. In 2017, a former Democrat Congressman was wiretapped, he stated, "Now, if they can do that to a member of Congress, they can certainly do it to a presidential candidate, and they can do it to private citizens as well." (PJ Media) A future of intense surveillance erupted fulfilling Orwell’s judgement, moreover technology enhanced causing a society of 1984. In closing, current inventions guide the universe to Orwell’s fiction, and people are unaware of it’s

Surveillance is not a new thing. In fact, espionage, tracking, and sleuthing were part of society ever since 5000 B.C. But in the rise of the modern era, the idea of surveillance in the public eye serves as a controversial topic of discussion. People everywhere complain about the existence of security cameras, government tracking, and the right to privacy. Such problems, however, are not due to the sudden discovery of surveillance, but the modern abuse of it. Seeing the disastrous effects of over surveillance from George Orwell’s 1984, the public rightfully fears societal deterioration through modern surveillance abuse portrayed in Matthew Hutson’s “Even Bugs Will Be Bugged” and the effects of such in Jennifer Golbeck’s “All Eyes On You”. The abuse of surveillance induces the fear of discovery through the invasion of privacy, and ensures the omnipresence of one’s past that haunt future endeavors, to ultimately obstruct human development and the progress of society overall.

In the year of 2017, it is hard to find any person whose life does not revolve around their electronic devices. The Internet has changed the way people function, and become a crucial resource in schools, workplaces, and homes all over the world. There are people who feel they could not survive a day without it, and, of course, there are people who are wary of its dangers. Children are taught from a young age to tread carefully when using the Internet, and teenagers can recite lectures they have received from their parents time and time again: “Don’t talk to strangers,” “Be careful what you download,” and most importantly, “Never share your personal information online.” What most of these parents do not know, however, is that you do not have to share your personal information for it to be collected. Not only is your information collected without your consent—it can legally be used against you. Many statutes involving Internet surveillance were rudimentary and non-invasive at their creation, but on October 26th, 2001, everything changed. The Patriot Act was signed into law, just forty-five days after the horrifying terrorist attack on the Twin Towers. The USA PATRIOT Act, more commonly known as the Patriot Act, was not a single piece of legislature, but a package of amendments to preexisting laws. The most notable changes in the Patriot Act are the amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1968 (ECPA),

In the year 2015, with new technology and social media citizens of Americans can see terrorist acts on a daily basis. They feel as if the Patriot Act doesn’t work and they think that it doesn 't need to be used anymore. They believe it is an invasion of privacy. However, we need this act for our protection. For example, the group ISIS in Iraq and Syria, is a terrorist group. They have plotted schemes to attack the US. This Patriot Act has caught many people trying to get to ISIS as well. The US has a population of about 319 million. 365 days a year the government is scanning phone calls, text messages and social media in order to catch possible terrorist attacks. Before the Patriot Act this would not be possible. In 2011 President Barack Obama signed to extend the Patriot Act. That year 42% of the politicians said that the act was a necessary tool ( PewResearchCenter Public Remains Divided Over the Patriot act (pewresearch) 15, February 2011 13,May 2015). Overall the Patriot Act is still necessary for the world we live in.

Technology has come a long way since the early 90’s. With modern advances, technology is just about incorporated in everything we do in our day-to-day lives. Since technology has been incorporated into our everyday lives, it may raise some concerns about what may be happening in the background. One of these concerns would be privacy, we all may take it for granted but it is our constitutional rights as Americans. But this all changed after the September 2001 attack on the twin towers.

With our nation’s tragedy of September 11, 2001, arose a deeply shaken America, shocked by the extent of the cruelty. An act of terrorism of that magnitude had never been seen before in our country. Patriots quickly came together, supporting the president to pass legislation, known as the USA Patriot Act, to tackle internal and external threats to this nation. The debate ensued, focused on which types of surveillance technology should or shouldn't be allowed for arresting terrorists. However, the question remains as to how these devices are going to be used, and how personally are those who use them held accountable. The purpose of this paper is to confirm that the proposed monitoring and archiving of users’ information on

The quest for privacy and security has always been a long and arduous one, as America’s citizens “no longer care” about the lack of integrity which the American government is showing towards its citizens (Sullivan). “When you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it.” Sullivan explains in Privacy under attack, but does anybody care?. After the National Security Agency was accused of “systematically collecting information” on citizens’ phone calls, emails, and countless other sources, “the news media treated it as a complete revelation” (Whitehead). People throughout the country protested and condemned the government—all while they failed to realize that we have consciously permitted the government to collect and secure our private information by “giving our personal information” to companies who ask for it, and by “allowing our personal lives to be posted on media sources such as Facebook and Twitter” (Washington). Ironically enough, we ourselves have

National polls taken before the events of September 11th revealed that the possibility of entities abusing the technological system in place and the possible exploitation of this loss of privacy frightened Americans a few months ago.  According to the survey, a vast majority of Americans, nearly 84% a year ago, were concerned about businesses or individuals gathering information on themselves or family members and 54% of Americans considered themselves "very concerned"[2].  Americans were

In Brian Trent’s article, Technology and Tomorrow: A Challenge to Liberty, Trent describes how electronic surveillance has increased and how it will continue to spread amongst people. In Craig Silverman’s article, Smile, Big Brother’s watching, Silverman explains that the amount of time and surveillance that corporations conduct over employees is increasing, but having some negative effects. Both of these articles explain how electronic surveillance will increase so much, that almost everyone will be able to be seen when not in the open [monitored]. In this essay I’ll be going more in depth to describe both articles and I’ll explain whether I agree with their arguments and why.

“The Surveillance Society,” by Adam Penenburg explains the impact that the attacks on September 11th, 2001 had on usage of technological surveillance of the American people. Penenburg writes that the assault on U.S. soil caused a great shift between privacy and policy causing a bill to be signed into law granting the government easier access into our emails, web history, and even phone calls. Even with all the surveillance, Penenburg claims that people could care less because in a time of turmoil because they care deeply about safety. Surveillance can be used to convict criminals, stop car thieves, and prevent terrorism. The constant surveillance increases the amount of information available on every single person but is extremely difficult

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.

“Before Sept. 11, the idea that Americans would voluntarily agree to live their lives under the gaze of a network of biometric surveillance cameras, peering at them in government buildings, shopping malls, subways and stadiums, would have seemed unthinkable, a dystopian fantasy of a society that had surrendered privacy and anonymity”(Jeffrey Rosen). Where were you on September 11, 2001? Do you remember the world before this tragic incident? Throughout history, the United States has adopted forms of legislation with the intention of improving national security. From prohibition, to gun laws, the outcomes of these legislations have not always been good.

Technology has become very effective for a thriving generation, but it also possesses a handful of flaws that counter the benefits. Technologies help people post and deliver a message in a matter of seconds in order to get a message spread quickly. It also gives individuals the power to be the person they want to be by only showing one side of themselves. But sometimes information that had intentions of remaining protected gets out. That information is now open for all human eyes to see. This information, quite frankly, becomes everybody’s information and can be bought and sold without the individual being aware of it at all. However, this is no accident. Americans in the post 9/11 era have grown accustomed to being monitored. Government entities such as the NSA and laws such as the Patriot Act have received power to do so in order to protect security of Americans. However, the founding fathers wrote the fourth amendment to protect against violations of individual’s privacy without reason. In a rapidly growing technological world, civil liberties are increasingly being violated by privacy wiretapping from government entities such as the NSA, Patriot Act and the reduction of the Fourth Amendment.

On September 11th 2001, an event of the terroristic act forever changed America. Many citizens touched by the event caused a demand in measures for increased security among the country. The government was stuck with fear of another attack, Congress soon passed a law called the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism”, or better known as the PATRIOT Act for short, on October 29th, 2001. Many fearful citizens were relieved at how the government is action against terrorism, while others were very skeptical on this new law. Those who were skeptical soon realize the amount of power the Patriot Act had been granted to the government. This was soon one of the most discussed topics in recent controversial history. In a society where terrorism is constantly blared out on the media, the United States government has reached out and poured millions of dollars towards modern technology to gain an upper-hand on the war against terrorism. In an economy today, the government should not waste governmental funds to spy on its citizens. It is not worth to lose all sense of traditional american value in order to have small amounts of protection.

Although the USA PATRIOT Act was passed almost unanimously, it faced major criticism from the public and national organizations. Many civil rights activists worried that the new law went too far and hindered American’s privacy. They feared the new provisions would be used too much for ordinary crimes and many innocent people would be monitored and become suspects (“George W. Bush Signs the Patriot Act”).