by Emily
Feit, Jaimee Kirkendall, and John Yanarella
Privacy in the "Information Age"
The issue of privacy has been a much-debated topic within the last few decades. Most individuals have been victimized in one way or another because their personal, private information became public knowledge. These days, information has become a highly lucrative business. The buying, selling, and trading of an individual's facts, traits, and ideas is a common occurrence. One such medium through which this takes place is the Internet.
In television and movies, we witness the ability of the government and other agencies to be privy to one's personal information. Whether or not these fictitious plots - usually involving satellites and highly advanced technological equipment - can be duplicated in reality is one cause for concern. The other, however, is The Eye which appears capable of watching every choice, decision, or action that one makes while using the internet.
We intend to illustrate ways in which privacy is currently compromised on the Internet and to probe the conflicting interests of business, government and individuals to discover some of the inevitable causes of this breach. Among the privacy issues to be scrutinized are the public accessibility of databases of sensitive information such as telephone numbers and addresses, the criminal and commercial exploitation of those databases, and the conflict between individual anonymity versus the economic interest of secure transactions.
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Considering the "Private" Citizen Viewpoint | |
Considering the Business and Government Viewpoints |
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The Crux of the Issue; Conclusions | |
Some tips to Protect Your Personal Privacy |
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Bibliography |
Site created by Emily Feit, Jaimee Kirkendall, and John Yanarella for PSY380.K
All graphics in these pages were created by John Yanarella.
Social Psychology / Miami University (Ohio USA).
Last revised: .
This document has been accessed times since 1 May 1999.
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