I SPY

If you want to pin-point your exact location: there is an App for that. When I first seen my house on Google Maps I was impressed but also flabbergasted. I thought “Who and When did they take this picture” and if I can access this information with ease so can anybody else. Today most cell phones are equipped with GPS Navigation Systems, and since no one in today’s society is detached from their cell phone they can always be traced to a precise location.

I first got the notion that I was constantly being watched when I received a ticket in the mail for turing right at a red light in Delaware. I would have gone back to speak to the prosecutor, but the ticket was only for $25 dollars and it’s “Delaware” I was just passing through. As American citizens is our privacy really protected? Nowadays, it can be rather easy to access someone’s information and records by way of the internet. With new technological advances being made every day, I do not feel that we are ever left private and secluded to just ourselves any more.

A controversial topic brewing right now in the State of New Jersey is death of 18 year old Rutgers Freshman Tyler Clementi who took his life after his roommate Dharun Ravi streamed his sexual encounter with another man on IChat and sent the link to 143 Twitter Users. Ravi has already been charged with Invasion of Privacy, but authorities are trying to charge him with a Bias Crime or possibly Involuntary Manslaughter.

Could this have been avoided ? I think so. Is technology to blame or is it the people who are operating them? This generation has become so fascinated with how other people preoccupy their time, that some would stop at nothing to document the moment, and this new technology allows them to do so. We are always being watched, whether it be by “BIG BROTHER” or a nosey neighbor. Our personal life is about as private a as Reality TV show.