Many people today own or are affiliated with someone who owns a cell phone. This cordless electronic device allows people to communicate while “on the go”, but despite its convenient ability, unsuspecting consumers do not know that many cell phones produced today are equipped with GPS, or global positioning system, which can be utilized to locate and track others who have GSP, leaving the authority of privacy questionable (Alderman). Another advance in electronic devices which has provoked consumers in the controversy of privacy is the archaic use of RFID tags.
RFID tags, or Radio Frequency Identification tags, are commonly used today for security reasons at places where shoplifters peregrinate, but recently scientists have been discovering other uses for the diminutive devices. RFID tags are now being used to keep track of inventory, replace barcodes, substitute as car keys, and even reform passports. These RFID tags emit constant signals which allow receiving devices from afar to determine the location and time spent in past locations of the device carrying the tag. Just recently scientists have found a way to replace passports with electronic RFID tags. The new passports, or E-passports, contain everything written in a standard passport along with a digital picture, but have the same privacy instability just as the other RFID tagged products. “While passports with RFID are a big concern, the real issue here is that we’re on a slippery slope with privacy,” says Yoshi Kohno of University of Washington (Porges, 17). The new technology can be classified as convenient and profitable but it leaves consumers vulnerable to predators with excessive free time.
Breakthrough development in finance has also caused citizens of the United States to be concerned. More Americans each day are falling victim to identity theft, leaving them frustrated and demanding advances in security rather than convenience. Many credit card distributors administer contactless credit cards which allow consumers to purchase products without checking for ID or asking for signatures, as long as the amount is under twenty-five dollars (Bigda, 40). These cards are also traceable and can give away locations with tacking technology in malicious hands.
Privacy is a right that should be respected and incorporated in the lives of humans today. The demand of privacy as an included aspect of new technology has pronounced the lack of personal location privacy as well as corporate and military security that United States citizens have today. Methods of reformation need to be initiated to alleviate the vulnerability of merchandisers, and to indemnify the outlook of privacy as an eternal right instead of a temporary privilege.
Works Cited
Alderman, Ellen and Caroline Kennedy. The Right to Privacy. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
Bigda, Carolyn. "Wave and You've Paid. (Plan; Savings and Credit)(Contactless credit cards)." Money 36.3 (March 2007): 40. Student Edition. Thomson Gale. Brevard County School District Main. 24 Feb. 2007.
<http://find.galegroup.com>
Porges, Seth. "Everywhere at once: RFID tags are showing up in everything from running shoes to passports. But are they making you safer or turning you into a target? (WHAT'S NEW FROM THE WORLD OF TECH)?" PC Magazine 26.3 (Feb 6, 2007): 17(2). Computer Database. Thomson Gale. Brevard County School District Main. 24 Feb. 2007.
<http://find.galegroup.com>
