Thursday, December 07, 2006
Individual Privacy and Modern Techonology of Surveillance
Modern technology could synthesize people’s lives in many ways. The creation of the Internet has been crucial in this new sophisticated era of computers. The network allows us to get information about a person’s health, public documents, financial status, driving record, credit card transactions, electronic banking, and even managing money via Internet browser. New technology has made more and more personal information available to anyone equipped to receive it. There is evidence that more and more personal information is provided to third parties. On the other hand, there is a conflict between individual privacy and the new digital technologies of surveillance. There is no doubt that nothing could be more disturbing that the observation of a person’s activities by the public. This surveillance tracking of somebody’s personal and business transactions may be just as disturbing as a physical search of a person’s home or the tapping of a person phone conversation. These types of surveillance with the help of new technology is easier and much more inexpensive to obtain. Additionally, this surveillance has little or no regulation.
On November 1, 2006, the state of New York passed a law that protects citizen against fraud. Now, the residents of New York State have the opportunity to freeze their credit card files against theft. The companies, TransUnion and Experian, give you the option to protect your personal credit files, by simply downloading a request form from the Internet. For the first time users, placing a security freeze is free. Once, the freeze is lifted or temporary removed, the companies can charge a fee, up to $5.00, to remove this service.
