The Value of Digital Privacy in an Information Technology Age

The Value of Digital Privacy in an Information Technology Age

Introduction

Today information technology has brought many changes in environment as compared to the technological environment decades ago. The underlying hardware of information technology has become more powerful and this rapid growth in IT environment has a major influence on the legal and social regime governing privacy today (Waldo, Lin, & Millett, 2007). Therefore, privacy has been growing concern around the world nowadays. The privacy of people is compromised in a new way by the online business and government practices, and further, the e-commerce and technologies have made a wide range of personal information available to people which indicates possibilities for improper or unwarranted intrusion into personal lives (www.studymode.com).

Discussion

List and describe at least three technologies that allow an individual to research citizens' private data.

There are many technologies that provide personal information of citizens today. Among them one is Googe.com; through this technology an individual can find information on another person. A person can search personal information like addresses, phone numbers, background information and other. This information is gathered through the data base used for opening an account, where people give information like name, address, phone number, email or credit card number.

Secondly there is Intelius.com, which helps people find family members, classmates, friends, or almost anyone living in United States of America. Intellius.com hosts a site named as DataCheck which accumulates reports on personal data like names, addresses, cell numbers, birth dates and others. This information can be accessed by using personal name, phone number, or social security number (Merola, 2012).

Thirdly, there is a technology called Zaba Search; an online search engine that can be used to access addresses and telephone numbers for free. This site doesn't require registration and provides information for free. The information advertised at this site is residential listings that can be found in telephone directories (Glantz, 2012).

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of public access to this information, both for the researchers and those who are being “investigated”.

There are several advantages as well as disadvantages associated with access the personal data of citizens through technologies. Advantages can include the use of personal data by the public sector in order to deliver services, this data can also be used for research and statistic purposes by the agencies or government corporations, it also helps people ...