Before this module, I was aware of certain problems that made me hesitant on my own actions, but furthermore, put more stress on what will happen in the future as a result of these outcomes from topics such as censorship, net neutrality, copyright, privacy, and the concept of being erased from the internet. In a modern era, where a mass majority of consumers rely on internet websites to supply them with new information regarding innovations, social exchange, and ongoing problems across the world, it is no surprise that restrictions are to be discussed when discovering new sources.
It has been discussed that each country should conduct their own laws when concerning their nation’s priorities to their citizens. One that I feel would be a greater accomplishment, at least for the United States, would be the offer that Google can remove you from their search results. Unfortunately, the United States did not agree with Europe’s standpoint on the matter. When concerning Europe, the European union stated, “‘The balance between the right to privacy and the protection of personal data, on the one hand, and the freedom of information of internet users, on the other, is likely to vary significantly around the world.’” Given this statement, it seems far-fetched that we could come to a unanimous decision on the matter as a whole given its versatility across all nations. I see it as being more beneficial than detrimental to our situation, because people do make mistakes when they’re younger, and it’d be a greater loss to them to have one mistake define the rest of their future. I think if atonement was met, and there was a certain amount of years that have surpassed a threshold of relevancy, then it should be removed from servers, but archived for law enforcement for any future occurrences.
Given that we have seen law enforcement be an issue over the past few years, as videos have surfaced against their bias and judgement on people of color, it makes it hard to trust them. With their request for a back-end encryption key, I am in favor of the motion, but they must have stronger internal affairs working the situation in case a dirty cop decides to use this to their advantage. Government positions seem to be unaccounted for the same prosecutions when concerning regular citizens, since they are working with a higher agency, so I understand the hesitation to let this law pass for their benefit. As stated by Congress, “a telecommunications carrier shall not be responsible for decrypting, or ensuring the government’s ability to decrypt, any communication encrypted by a subscriber or customer, unless the encryption was provided by the carrier and the carrier possesses the information necessary to decrypt the communication.” Comparing this statement to the system in place now, it doesn’t seem to abstract from the current state of enforcement. Law enforcement are already granted access to information if there is probable cause or an ongoing investigation, which can be supplied with a warrant. I don’t seem the problem of having carriers having to release the information if it is against their will and have to comply with legal obligations. Their consumers should not hold them accountable in that circumstance. With enough security and supervision over the bill, it could be enforced with limitations that are in place for current investigations, in order to make it only usable in specific criminal situations.
I think I will modify my privacy settings to be more secure to just my friends and myself, without having information leak out of the system. I think beyond adjusting that, it is really out of my control as to what happens with the information I provide online. I accept the consequences that follow any action I produce online, with the hope it will not be used against me in the future. I am more conscious of the language I wish to use when speaking my opinion on a certain matter, without engaging in arguments that may defeat my overall purpose of getting the message across. I think I would like to keep a more vague presence in the face of social media, where my photographs dominate the space, with the least amount of words possible, in order to leave my opinion up for interpretation to each viewer without setting them off.
