Tech musing #3 A Conversation on Privacy Conference

Jacqueline Angulo
MIS441

Summary

During last month I attended a panel discussion conference in Centennial Hall at UA about privacy and security. Starting the conference Nuala O’Connor CEO of Center of Democracy asked the panel about what was their meaning of privacy. Snowden, the National Security Agency subcontractor break the ice saying that privacy is the fountainhead of all rights, while Glenn Greenwald and Noam Chomsky said that privacy is a contractual bond and a very difficult question to ask because it means different things to different people. For a simple example to say that some people may think that giving out their Facebook password to their moms goes against their privacy, and I may think that it is a normal thing.  But, I also need to take into account that anything could happen after that and I am going against my own privacy and even security, if it does.  Chomsky continued the conversation on some perspectives on how the Internet was developing largely in the state sector. He mentioned that the Internet was early designed as a tool to be free and an open communication between people to have a more informational and healthier society widening horizons.

I personally agree with Noam Chomsky when saying that technology is basically neutral, because you can use it to oppress or to liberate.. it is up to what each of us choose. Journalist Glenn Greenwald talked about what he tends to do. He said one of his responsibilities is to make it more difficult to people who wield the greatest powers such as government, for what quickly during the conference Snowden added that everyone in the society must be able to know what the government is doing in our names and against us, because that is what help us make a healthier democracy. Nowadays, we are blinder of seeing what our government do than we were before.

Important to an MIS student

This I am also taking the systems security management course.  I have been taught about the importance of security and privacy, and different ways to prevent it.  I feel as a student not only in MIS but in general, this topic is of huge significance. Privacy and security is a topic that everyone has to understand clearly. Mass government surveillance does curtail your freedom of speak, and it tries to control how you think. As in the conference, Greenwald mentioned, if you feel that you are being watched you are obviously limiting yourself to express what you really wanted. In order to have a healthier democracy we should be able to have our freedom of speech, speaking without any fear.