Privacy? Don't be so sure.

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In Catherine Crump's TEDtalk on Privacy she explains how more advanced technology is being used by police departments for surveillance reasons. License plate readers that have data stored in a massive database that can be used to help track individuals. Is this too much information for the police? Or is it better for us because dangerous individuals can be suppressed before bad things happen? A lot of people want their privacy intact and with good reason. You should be able to live your life without having to worry about who's watching or what is being recorded about you. There is a reason for all of the security though. Terrorist threats are constantly being dealt with before, during, and after they occur and often at the expensive of the government and taxpayers. Surveillance of suspect individuals can be good but it needs to be kept in check. Just because someone visits a mosque doesn't mean they should be seen as a threat like is explained in Crump's talk. My personal thought is that I don't really care if the government uses some surveillance on me. I don't want police cameras in my house or my property, but if they snap a photo of my license plate every so often that's alright with me. People may think I'm crazy for thinking this way but the simple truth is I have nothing to hide from the government so I don't feel that I should be concerned with certain surveillance on my life. That being said, I would still like certain areas of my life to remain private. My life doesn't need to become public knowledge but if the police and other government agencies are doing this surveillance for the greater good and for the safety of my country, I think I could learn to live with it.

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