Privacy Online and Off

     Today, we had watched a few videos that acknowledged our privacy and what is truly private to us. In this, we learned new information gathered upon police departments, and the government. First, the shooting of Michael Brown had brought an increased amount of military equipment to the local police departments. But, does advanced technology make police more safe? In the Catherine Crump begins to elaborate on how technology allows the government and police departments to gather way more information about citizens. This raises the question of "What is privacy and how is our privacy protected?".

    As we get in our cars, and go throughout our daily lives, our privacy could be threatened. You may know how your state may have cameras that captures different traffic violations. Well, may I introduce you to Flock cameras where our information is being captured as we pass the camera in our cars. Our license plate numbers are being photographed and converted into searchable data. This can let the government know where you were going and who was in the car with you. As we travel through life, we share valuable moments, ups and downs, and times where we aren't feeling our best. But, anything we do can be tracked down and let the government create an idea of who we are as citizens. Whatever data, the government gets, it can be abused. 

    These issues affect my family, friends, and I by steadily watching everything we post with caution. Our freedom to post or capture a moment that could stem from an enjoyable time is limited because you can casually realize that you cannot post a video that you want because of a one second glimpse of something that should not be posted.  Although, I do understand the government's perspective of having the power to access our information for our own safety but when does this power become an invasion of our privacy. The government should be able to find a middle area of what is to be defined as protection and not a violation of privacy. 

     In the video watched, they label what we post as electronic tattoos and claim that they will live longer than our bodies will. As citizens of the United States, we can be careful of what we post on the internet because anything is used to paint a portrait of the character you are by what you give them by not knowing.We can always stay on the good path of life where we can avoid getting into situations where our privacy may be violated by smart decision-making.