Is The Government Spying On Us Via The Internet?

In short, the answer is yes. The whole Internet is spying on you, but it’s not because you are special. On one hand - “I’ve got nothing to hide, let them peek!”, the other – “This is a breech of my rights!”. Sure, both arguments are fair, but we must keep in mind the big picture here. There’s really not a whole lot we can do about it.

Sure you’ve got nothing to hide, and you did check that ‘I agree to Terms and Services’ checkbox before you downloaded/joined/signed up for the service, and the Internet is not publicly owned (even though it really really should be).  The thing is, the services we sign up for are using your private information and selling it to advertisers, governments, and corporations. 

Pro-Spying Argument:

If you were a terrorist, I’m sure they would be retroactively searching through your Facebook photos, or e-­‐mail accounts, but can you imagine the amount of e-­‐mails people would have to filter through to find anything of value? Even though you are allowing (or enabling) these groups to use your personal information as they please, we were somehow mislead into thinking this was okay, or this is how it has to be. You must keep in mind: WE ARE BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF. 

If you sign up for a social service, and are –by choice-­‐ displaying personal information for the world to see, that’s your business. BUT when companies are using your search history, collecting your location data, and selling it to others for huge profit, only to be used against you‐ this is not right.

The greatness of a network that can connect the world, share trillions of bytes of current information, making everybody a part of a collective consciousness has the potential to be one of the greatest progressions of human behavior and thinking this planet has ever seen.  This massive thought alone is why the Internet shouldn’t be used for mining data and personal information of the people who use it. The network as a resource is what should be taken advantage of; not it’s users. 

Next time you sign up for a social service, do yourself a solid and read over some of the ‘terms of use’. You may find it interesting how many little things hide in that small print. Inform yourself, and know what you’re getting into; you’re worth a lot more than a marketing statistic.