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government tracking

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Touched by Technology Do you know who is tracking your movements when your turn on your cell phone, or what is being done with that information? These are questions that I recently had to ask myself after reading two insightful articles. The first was by Ronald Bailey called “Your Cellphone is Spying on You” and the other was by Terry J. Allen entitled “Reach Out and Track Someone”. In Ronald Bailey’s article, he explores the use of cellular phone tracking technology by law enforcement and their recent attempts to expand the surveillance laws to include more use of cell phones to track users’ movements without their knowledge. In addition he gives us some perspective on the idea of a big brother watching over us by examining what a …show more content…

Bailey expresses that the technology is not inherently bad, but that the methods by which it is being used today does show a lack of respect for the constitutional rights of citizens. Although these two men have different bases for their beliefs they each agree that masses of unwitting citizens, some of whom are not even accused of any crime, are being tracked from a distance by the government and private companies and that there are a growing number of abuses by each of these entities that require immediate action. I do not fear my government as a whole, but I do fear that, as the words of the British historian Lord Acton “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Knowing that you may be under surveillance ultimately reduces a person to a slave of sorts. It reduces the subject of the surveillance to the point of acting and performing as surveyor would want it to for fear of the repercussions of any subversive act. We live in a world of constantly evolving technology, but the moral standard under which we use these new devices and knowledge is rooted in our past. Our societal expectation is that our government acts with a level of integrity where citizens are not tracked without cause or due process, and we should demand no less of the private sector with information of such a delicate nature. To demand freedom is to bear some risk

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