With the news this week that the National Security Agency was given permission to collect cell phone data and perhaps the internet activity records of millions of Americans, the gasps could be heard across the country, from Democrats and Republicans alike as well as from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union.
How could it be? This is America, home of the free and the brave. Our government spying on its citizenry?
Call me naïve, but are they kidding? I have always assumed that someone, somewhere has been looking over my shoulder.
The British newspaper, The Guardian, first released a copy of a court order giving the National Security Agency (NSA) access to all of Verizon’s phone records for a three month period of time. Ironically, that confidential court document had been leaked to the press.
Because Verizon and presumably the other cell phone carriers dump their records after a given amount of time, the NSA was reportedly given access to those files before they could be destroyed. The files include the numbers we called, when we called those numbers and how long we talked, and probably who we texted as well.
Defenders of this broad sweeping data collection or “mining” as it’s called suggest that any further digging into an individual’s phone records would require additional permission from the courts. A second report has indicated that the major internet companies like Google and others have also been asked for records which show what we access on the world wide web.
As a middle-aged woman living in Central Pennsylvania, my boring phone records are probably not of interest to any law enforcement agencies. No one cares about my phone calls to my husband to ask him to pick up something from Wegmans on the way home from work or to my doctor’s office to schedule my mammogram.
However, if I start writing columns that someone views as un-American, the NSA now has my phone records and, with additional permission, can dig a little deeper into my day-to-day activities to see if my communication might suggest I am part of a larger terrorist organization.
There’s the rub. Who gets to decide what is un-American? As we have seen with the Internal Revenue Service scandal, the definition of anti-government is quite subjective and potentially politically driven.
To quote Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22, “just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”
From the ease of a Google search to the GPS systems on our phones, the technological advances of the past decade have already put our privacy at risk.
It’s not surprising anymore when advertisements for a company where I’ve made an on-line purchase miraculously end up on my Facebook page practically as I’m hitting “proceed to check-out.”
From keystrokes to IP addresses, our activities are under constant review. It’s what happens with that information that raises questions.
If that data is sold to other companies or to marketing firms, we get annoyed. When we hear that the government is behind it, that intrusion raises questions about our civil rights.
This whole discussion reminds me of parenting teenagers. If you live in my house, under my rules, you can expect a certain level of privacy. However, if at any time, if I believe that you are making decisions that will hurt you or someone else, those rules are suspended and I can and will go into your room and go through your stuff to make sure you are safe. Periodically, I will also clean your room to prevent both bugs and hoarding so make your decisions with the understanding that I will have access.
On the other hand, if I find something in one of my kid’s rooms, I don’t necessarily share that with teachers, coaches, the extended family or anyone else.
In the assortment of regulations that outline our right to privacy like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) or the Federal Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA), there is an expectation of privacy with exceptions spelled out as to when and how privacy can be violated.
Even the banking industry spells out regulations for your financial privacy. In other areas of our lives, we hope that our privacy is protected. In some situations, it comes down to trusting the people on the other end that our private information will be treated with respect and discretion.
It’s that trust factor that is making people very concerned with this latest interpretation of the Patriot Act. When trust is missing in any relationship, we fill in the hole with anger, fear and paranoia.
When our government lies to us, hides things from us or misrepresents its activities, we worry that they will use our private information against us. The decidedly “us versus them” that defines today’s political climate makes us uncomfortable with people having easy access to our personal information, regardless of who is in office.
We can point to events in history, like the IRS mess or the unfair targeting of reporters and news agencies, as proof that data mining or secret profiling usually leads to bad things.
It is, as they say, hard to get one’s footing on that very slippery slope.
However, in this era of technology, most reasonable people understand that others have access to our information. If I use my Penn State computer to access the internet or send an email through PSU’s webmail, I assume that someone at Penn State can access that information.
If I access the internet from home using a server like Google or Firefox, I assume that someone is tracking my contacts. My Comcast email goes through the Comcast system.
If I am able to turn on a GPS that uses someone’s satellite to find my location and then give me directions, why would we think that there are no records? When Verizon provides me with a bill each month that itemizes my phone records, I know that others have seen it.
The question, therefore, becomes, who else has access to our private material? More importantly, what can they do with that information?
In some respects, it’s a no-win for law enforcement. We demand accountability after incidents like the recent Boston Marathon bombing but then whine if they look at personal information in the process. We want them spying on our neighbors or that creepy guy with the accent but are outraged when that data collection includes us.
If someone wants to look at my phone records, have at it. I have nothing to hide. Bore yourself to tears with texts to my kids, calls to my mother and internet recipe searches. If you can prevent the next bomb that takes innocent lives or can stop that plot to kill Americans because someone hates our freedoms, go for it.
I’m willing to give up a little privacy in the hope that someone looking around might make it more difficult for the bad guys.
