Technological Advances Threaten Privacy Essay -- Argumentative Persuas

Technological Advances Threaten Privacy The year is 2004. By now, our technology is so advanced that we’ve built robots to do common daily tasks for us. To many people, all of this technology seems like a dream come true. What they don’t realize is that the magnitude of complex technology can go the other way as well. The Internet is a cyber jungle filled with a lot of hunters, and even more prey. Just by hooking ourselves in with all of this new technology we have threatened our privacy. With the click of a mouse, almost anyone can gain access to personal information for just about anyone. While technology causes serious threats to privacy, there are several ways to help prevent against these threats. At the top of the list though is the threat through Internet and wireless technology. A hacker may be able to enter a system and tamper with important files that might be essential. Important information can be found in the system that may end up threatening ones privacy. There are some precautions, however, that may be taken in order to prevent this invasion of one’s privacy. Setting up proxy-firewalls on the computer is a good way. Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) also helps, which is designed to keep confidentiality to a wired network; however, â€Å"WEP provides a bare minimal level of security that can deter casual snooping"(Wikipedia). Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technological innovation enabled to track objects and relay information with unique serial numbers across the world. Corporate implementation of RFIDs increases logistic efficiency, but also creates a medium of information from the consumer to their retail counterparts, without their ability to control personal information being exposed (Albright A... ... age and how to protect your family. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 2004. * Dipert, Brian. "READING BETWEEN THE LINES: RFIDs confront the venerable bar code.  "  Edn  14  Oct.  2004:  48-50,52,54,56,58. * Hamilton, Anita. Camera Phones. Time Magazine. 20 November 2004. <http://www.time.com/time/2003/inventions/invphones.html>. * Napolitano , Jo. â€Å" Hold It Right There, and Drop That Camera.† New York Times. 11 December 2003: Circuits. * O'Reilly, John.   An Employer's Guide to Surveillance, Searches & Medical Examination.   Toronto: Thomson Canada Limited, 2003. * "President Bush Signs Identity Theft Legislation." Whitehouse.gov. 4 December 2003. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031204-2.html> [20 November 2004]. * Rieter, Allan. Reiter’s camera phone report. 20 November 2004. < http://www.wirelessmoment.com/security_camera_phones/>.