Security vs. Privacy essays

Security vs. Privacy essays Security verses Privacy: How much do we need to be watched? You walk out of your house, get into your car, and drive down the street towards some unknown destination. However by leaving your house, someone sees you. They keep track of every move you make. This person already knows where you live and what kind of car you drive. When you make a left turn, the person finds out your name because you yell out the window to your friend. You go downtown and drive through the ATM. Guess what? The person following you now has your pin number and knows what bank your money is in. Your next stop is the post office where you go inside to get your mail. Right behind you, watching to see your post office box number, is the same person. They stand just close enough to watch you flip through your mail and to see where every letter came from and to see which letters you put in the out box. Are you feeling a little worried yet? Do you want this person to leave you alone? Do you know this is all legal? Leaving your house or getting on the internet is not secure or private. Internet-Service Providers can keep a record of the sites you visit, every move you make on-line. Web sites use cookies to follow people around the internet. They use them to see what sites people are visiting and to see what people are downloading. Every time you use your credit card on-line you can never be sure if it will be secure or if someone will be able to access it (Cohen 34). I used the example of the post office before for a specific reason. Electronic mail, commonly referred to as e-mail, is equivalent to someones post office box. According to the New York Times, the government may get into our e-mail to read subject lines of sent and received mail. They may do this without having to show probable cause to a judge. The government must only show that the information may have relevance to an ongoing case (Guernsey 1...