Personally I have never been paranoid enough to worry about people tracking me through my cell-phone. I know, and have known, that it happens ever since I got a cellphone. People need to relax and understand that nothing they say over any electronic device or social medium is ever going to be private. If you want to have a private conversation - do it in person. Its really that simple. Electronics, such as cell-phones, are every day things that everyone uses and we all just need to accept that its not a perfect system. Either way we will still use and abuse cell phones and continue to get tracked. People who want prepaid cellphones honestly worry me. What is so private and/or who are you calling that is so private that there can be no record of it? The only valid, not totally sketchy excuse, would be that you are in a witness protection program and really can not have anyone looking into what you are doing. Otherwise, it is weird and concerning to me that you need so much privacy. I don't see celling prepaid cellphones as a necessity in America - just distribute them to those who need it and approved by the government to get one. If I saw someone just buying a prepaid cellphone I would be totally suspicious of what they needed it for. The paranoia that people have with technology and who can hear them or see what they say drives me crazy. We have been warned of this for years and of course it will never stop us from using these devices. We, as a people, have no right to criticize the companies who track you because not only is it usually included in the privacy specifics, which no one ever reads, but it also is just a part of the technological world. If you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't be worried what people can see. And furthermore, if there really is something you want no one knowing than talk face to face in a private place.
Yes, the government and/or companies will always be watching what you do electronically, but a problem will only arise through how we choose to react to it.
I am so sick of over-worried and over-protected parents. This whole idea of Location Tracking, or putting chips in children to track them, physically sickens me. It is not the right of a parent to do that to their child or for a hospital to do that to their Alzheimer's patients just because they don't have a voice of their own to disagree with it. All children of a young age are going to get into some trouble but it is the parents' responsibility to watch them - it shouldn't be put on technology. It shows how lazy some people can be, which may not be the intention but it comes across that way. This is honestly a huge invasion of the child to require attached chips on them and I would never support a bill like this in Congress. We have been raising children for hundreds of years and we have never needed any of this - why should be now? It makes me so frustrated that parents are so hyper-worried and over-protective that they can't even let their newborn-5 year old alone without a promise of being able to know where they are at every single moment. When it comes to teenagers it is completely unreasonable. Teenagers need to learn how to be independent through the mistakes they make and the parent's have no right to hold so tightly onto the reigns through needing to know where they are always. Personally, this would lead to a total resentment of my parents because I would see it as a violation of privacy and a lack of trust. I understand that come crazy parents want to prevent bad things before they happen but sometimes all you can do is be there for your child when the bad things inevitably happen. Also, being so overprotective will never result in a stable and functioning child. Either the teenager will end up completely unprepared for the outside world due to the large amount of shelter from it or they will become completely dishonest and sneaky through finding loopholes in the protective system. Alzheimer's patients are no different. I understand that seniors who are more forgetful can be extremely difficult, and at times dangerous, but once again if they are in the right care there shouldn't be a problem. I mean its time people start taking responsibility again and not depend on technology to solve every single problem. I honestly find in ironic that the same generation who call us teenagers and college students too "dependent" on technology want to use it for reasons that prove their own dependence. There comes a times where we all have to take a look and realize that regardless of age or mental stability we all have the same rights. Tracking people is not only a huge violation of privacy, its also a huge hinderance on independence. Independence is something we all have the right to learn, as a child or teenager, and keep, as a senior with memory problems or not.
Hey world, it's me - Sarah Blaisdell. This blog is for my CS408 class to share my opinion about debates and conflicts regarding the internet. I hope to focus mostly on technology's effect on education because I hope to one day to become a teacher. I need to learn both sides of the argument so that I can make an educated decision about whether or not I should allow such use in my future classroom :) I can't wait to get this party started!
