In the past few years there has been an expansion of communications between people through digital and technological mediums; however, with this growth there has also been an increase in governmental regulation and surveillance through these digital and technological mediums. To some, this increase in surveillance has created a sense of security. While this is true in some sense, others feel like this increase in surveillance is imposing upon human rights.
Through social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr, the internet is able to connect people all over the world; however, what starts to happen when these connections between people are spied on and surveilled by the government? Although technology has rapidly increased within the past few years to connect people, the laws used by governments to insure the ability to protect citizens through surveillance have not been up date. Cynthia Wong, a researcher at the Human Rights Watch believes that “our lives [have] become more digitized, [and] unchecked surveillance can corrode everyone’s rights and the rule of law.” In the past, the government relied heavily on time consuming and tedious practices; however, in today's day and age, it is possible for the government to access a person's digital footprint easily.
The real question in this debate is whether or not the government is simply protecting its people or if the government is imposing upon the human rights of citizens. To me, I think the role of the government is imposing too much in the lives of its citizens and is directly imposing upon their human right. Although the government is attempting to protect the people, they are directly imposing upon human rights, mostly because of how some current laws are not in line with the technology that is available. If these laws were to be edited and reprocessed, I think the role of the government to protect would be further appreciated and understood by the masses.
Reference: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/09/20/countries-should-protect-privacy-digital-age
Yes, I think this is the single greatest question that we have to ask about our digital age and our dependence on the web for vital communications. I kind of think about the web like the phone - we use it just liked we used to use the phone - to communicate, to reach out, to get information. If we think about phones being wiretapped, it's pretty horrible. Or we could go even further back to letter-writing. What if all letters were opened before they got to the recipient of it? If we think about this in regards to the internet, we see the violation. In the cases of phones, letters, etc. - they were only tapped or censored if criminal activity was suspected. So...is everyone now considered a potential criminal?
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