Following the theme of yesterday’s article about privacy and the law I would like to expand it into this post.
Search engines keep track of our IP address and search information. This is explained in our Google information page. What is stored can help identify who you are as well as create an electronic dossier of you. This information may be information only you and your preffered search engine know about, until someone with a subpoena enters the picture. They now have access to all of this information. What if you get added to a government watch list based on this information as mentioned in this article?
We should not have to worry about what we are searching for online and who is going to see it. If we decide we want to search for something personal or informational, we shouldn’t have to be weary of possible consequences from such a search. Anonymity needs to be put in place and privacy restored. If some of this information were to be released, it could potentially ruin people’s lives or be subject to blackmail.
This is where the law comes in. Do you think there should be laws mandating privacy and anonymity online? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Some of us don’t always see the deeper reasons for privacy until we really start to investigate it; then we can realize how important our privacy actually is.
