The Internet Is A Surveillance State By Bruce Schneier

5 Ways You Give The Government Control” written by Kenneth Coats shows how the devices we use daily slowly take over individuals lives. Coats states, “Today, most people in the United States carry a mobile phone that accompanies them wherever they go. We use them for everything...This essentially makes them the perfect tracking and bugging devices”. Although electronic devices are known to be safe, they allow outside people to figure out individuals personal life. Due to the need for devices such as cell phones, each individual has a high chance of being socially stalked once in their lifetime. Coats then states, “Not only do intelligence agencies gather information via mobile companies, but… your phone can be hacked using spyware. Even if your phone is turned off, it can be remotely accessed to recorded conversations and take photographs”. This issue causes a panic due to the wide spread of inappropriate pictures and private conversations in one's life. Even though technology is viewed as a privileged, it is also taking away people's lives without their

Originally, these devices were solely used for contacting family and friends or even business, but now they have turned into something much bigger. In the article “That’s No Phone. That’s My Tracker.”, Maass and Rajagopalan explain that our cell phones can track everything from what we buy to where we are at all times. Just like in 1984, we the government has complete knowledge of where we are and what we are doing because of the increasing use of technology in our society.

Imagine that every search, post, ping, or tweet was tracked by a big corporation or even the government. This is a scary though but in reality, the search history of the American people is a high commodity for big business and the government alike. The purpose of this essay will be to examine the article titled “The Internet is a Surveillance State” by Bruce Schneier. This essay will examine Schneier’s credibility towards the source, the importance of when the article was written, and the ideals Schneier had towards the topic of internet surveillance.

“Antarctic penguins detect the precise call of their chicks among the 150,000 families in the nesting site” (Christin 96). If only it were this easy to know who you were talking to online. This leads me to Peter Singer’s “Visible Man: Ethics in a World Without Secrets” which he explains that being watched through surveillance increases our morals. And Brian Christians “Authenticating” discusses the importance of artificial intelligence and what makes us human. Both of the articles listed describes how technology continues to transform into a more modern web and gives the citizens, who use it, less security, which results in chaos within the government and society. Consequently, new technology does not make it harder to be

    Abstract:  This paper provides an analysis of the privacy issues associated with governmental Internet surveillance, with a focus on the recently disclosed FBI tool known as Carnivore. It concludes that, while some system of surveillance is necessary, more mechanisms to prevent abuse of privacy must exist.

Law professor Paul Ohm, in an article titled “That’s No Phone. That’s My Tracker”, writes “Every year, private companies send millions of dollars developing new services that track, store and share words, movement and even the thoughts of their customers.” We see their privacy being broken in the novel 1984 and realize that we are experiencing the same type of surveillance in our economy. NBC News, in an article FBI Abandoned Carnivore Wiretap Software writes, “FBI… popular commercial wiretap software because it was less expensive and had improved in it’s ability to copy E-mails and other communications of a targeted internet account without affecting their subscribers. Government officials use this kind of technology to keep track of our information and movement to assure we are no threat to our

There is a concern about how the internet can be used to invade privacy. Today it is possible for a skilled hacker to take pictures using a webcam on any device or steal identities, bank account information, and much more. Every electronic device that has a connection with the internet shares an IP address, this can specifically give a location. All people with internet connections have IP addresses, multiple devices share the same address usually within a network. Surveillance can be achieved easily using IP address, web servers can identify which IP address is connecting to their server of website.

What do you think is more of a need for humans -- privacy or security? Some people might say privacy is a human need, not enough of it is amiss. That is why Bruce Schneier in his article “The Eternal Value of Privacy” says how privacy is a basic human need and how erratic it is on the amount of privacy we get. Although on the back side of privacy and security, Chris Cillizza gives his position on security with his article “In the Battle between Security and Privacy, Privacy always wins” by rationalizing quotes of Obama and giving his reasoning on what he really said in the speech. Bruce Schneier has more of a reasoning then Chris Cillizza because the fact that he is speaking for more than one person, as Cillizza tries to use one man’s quote to justify the argument.

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.

Today, Canadian’s lives today are as translucent as ever. Most organizations especially the government constantly watches each and every one of our moves. By definition, surveillance is any systematic focus on any information in order to influence, manage, entitle, or control those whose information is collected. (Bennet et Al, 6). From driving to the shopping mall to withdrawing money from the ATM machine, Canadians are being watched constantly. With Canada’s commitment to advance technology and infrastructure in the 1960s, government surveillance is much easier and much more prevalent than it was hundreds of years ago. Even as early as 1940s, the Dominion Bureau of Statistics used punch cards and machines to determine who is available

In his text, “How we sold our souls – and more – to the internet giants,” Bruce Schneier offers compelling insight into the extensive articulation of internet surveillance in the powerful corporate world. Schneier’s analysis of power relations and his claim that personal “[d]ata is power,” reflect his concern that as internet surveillance increases, the imbalance of power between individuals and internet businesses will continue to grow and deepen as well. Therefore, to avoid furthering asymmetries of power in contemporary digital society, Schneier highlights the need for regulation of data processing and urges governments to act by implementing rules and regulations that will help balance power relationships between the surveillers and the

“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

The U.S. Government has turned the Internet into something it was never intended to be: a system for spying on us in our most private moments. Out of control government

Today, we can send information all over the world instantly; however movement and activities can be tracked through computers and cell phones. With new and improved technology, it can improve lives, increase public safety, build wealth and promote efficiencies in how we use scarce resources. Researchers,

Today, society is affected by the many advances in technology. These advances affect almost every person in the world. One of the prevalent advances in technology was the invention and mass use of the Internet. Today more than ever, people around the world use the Internet to support their personal and business tasks on a daily basis. The Internet is a portal into vast amounts of information concerning almost every aspect of life including education, business, politics, entertainment, social networking, and world security. (idebate.com) Although the Internet has become a key resource in developing the world, the mass use of Internet has highlighted a major problem, privacy and the protection of individual, corporate, and even government