Privacy from the information security perspect - Essay Example

People living in the United s and in different democratic countries across the world have rights which protect their privacy. Privacy can be defined as the state of being free from intrusion or in one’s personal life or affairs (Dictionary, 2007). Privacy can be viewed as a very wide term which covers a lot different rights of persons or institution which all have the same common denominator of protecting people or institutions from revealing information which is secret and that the persons want to protect from others. There are a lot of matters which people want do not want to share with outsiders and they only which to reveal to their personal friends and families. During the last decade the privacy rights of people have been challenged due to different external factors or legislatures which have place privacy at the forefront of public debates. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and compare privacy issues related to freedom from observation and privacy issues related to information security. Human beings believed that the everyday occurrences which they live are events which nobody is paying attention to. To certain extend they realize that there are other humans around them, but they assume that specific details of their daily routine are private matters which no person has a right to closely observe. The general feeling and perspective of people is that they can go about their business without the fear that any particular is concerned about the actions they are performing. The common actions which people know are absolutely private are not limited to their interactions within other members of a society. Humans performed a lot of activities such as paying bills, online activity, private phone call conversations, decisions concerning ones professional future, buying preferences, financial records and many other events which are suppose to be private decisions and occurrences. These general activities are actions which are not suppose to be observed by any particular within our society, but these actions are being challenged by society on a constant basis. The city of London has a complex camera surveillance system which monitors the behavior of the citizens thought the entire city. Somebody is always watching everything occurring in this city. The purpose of this system was to protect the citizens from criminal activity. There are over 200,000 cameras in the UK monitoring public spaces (Gilc). Systems such as the closed circuit television (CCTV) utilized in London completely invade the privacy of its citizens. The government might justify such a system with claims that is there to protect the population, but giving any government such an instrument is dangerous since the information and images can be utilize for other means such as unauthorized social studies, stalking of people within the system, tracking movement of purchasing trends of the citizens and many other actions which intrude into a person’s privacy. People spend a large portion of their time in the workplace. Recently there has been a lot controversy concerning privacy at work. According to the American Bar Association there is a huge culture of corporate monitoring of employees activities which is typically perform without a notice to the employees that such activities are occurring (Are Surveillance Activities Violating People’s Privacy?, 2007). The view of management of the corporate world is that employees give up their right to privacy while at work and an employee should not expect to have any privacy at work since the person is getting paid to be there. To a certain extend the employer has a right to evaluate the performance of its employees and to know if people are in their designated work areas, but there limits. An employee should not have to worry about somebody tracking his every move as if the person was some type of criminal. The personal calls which employees are entitled to deal with family matters are private and the employer has no right to spy or intrude in them. In the United Kingdom the Human Rights Act of 1998 protects the rights of the personal lives of people. Celebrities are humans which many times the media targets and their private lives are intruded upon. A few years ago supermodel Naomi Campbell went to a private meeting of narcotics anonymous to take care of some personal issues. A UK reporter took a picture of her before entering the meeting which he then published in a press article. The reporter had absolutely no right to take such a picture nor did he have a right to make an article based on Naomi’s private life. Naomi took the case to court and the judged ruled in her favor based on breach of confidence and the protections provided by the data protection act of 1998 (ActNow). The United States government created the USA Patriot Act in 2002 after the 9/11 attack in NY supposedly to have more tools to battle terrorist and protect the security of its citizens. Conceptually it was a good ideas and necessary measure which could have helped law enforcement agencies in their efforts to track dangerous individuals and organizations. In reality this is not what occurred with the creation of theUSA Patriot Act. The Patriot Act violates the privacy rights of the citizens and provides governments with powers they are not entitled to. Instead of targeting terrorist threats the act invades the privacy of everyone. The list below illustrates the ways the Patriot Act violates the privacy of American citizens: It allows the government to monitor citizens web surfing record, utilize rover wiretaps to monitor phone calls of both the person being tapped and secondary individuals, access internet service provider record and monitor any type of protest regardless of the issue of the protest. Allows government to add DNA samples to databases of any person convicted of any crime of violence in the past, a measure which is not relevant for terrorism investigative purposes. The government can spy the computer activity on any person without a court order The government can enter the home premises of an individual to realize a search of the premises without a person ever knowing the search was performed. Extends the investigative power of foreign intelligence agencies. These foreign agencies can now intrude in the lives of American citizens. (Eff, 2003). The powers the USA Patriot give the government are anti-constitutional and are a complete violation of basic human rights. Imagine governmental officials going through a person’s home without the person ever knowing someone was there. The legal system stipulates that law enforcement agencies need a warrant before entering a person’s home and the person has the right to be present during the search and has to be notified prior to the entrance of any individual into their premises. The measure the Patriot Act allows is highly illegal and can be misused by corrupt law enforcement agents to frame any innocent person. The Act completely violates the rights of common citizens to realize online activities privately. It is allowing foreigners to perform investigation in territory in which they have no jurisdiction. Privacy is a right which protects the intimate lives of people. Humans need to have their own space and nobody has the right to stalk another person while observing their every move. Security is important for society, but it has to be performed without violating the rights of the common citizen. Measures such as London’s surveillance system are extreme measures which are creating a world in which people can no longer move freely and privately around without being watch by strangers. The USA Patriot Act is also a very bad piece of legislation that provides government with the ability to violate the privacy of people. People have the right to a private life and they can not let technological advances or governments intrude on their lives. References ActNow.org. Naomi Campbell Privacy and Data Collection. 1 Retrieved August 22, 2007 from http://www.actnow.org.uk/upload8.pdf Dictionary.com (2007). Privacy. Retrieved August 23, 2007 from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/privacy Gilc.org. Privacy and Human Rights. Retrieved August 22, 2007 from http://www.gilc.org/privacy/survey/intro.html Eff.org (2003). The USA Patriot Act. Retrieved August 22, 2007 from http://www.eff.org Are Surveillance Activities Violating People’s Privacy? (2007). HR Focus, 84(8). 9. Retrieved August 21, 2007 from EBSCOhost database. Read More