EU vs US – Privacy Falling By the Wayside

Recently, I read the European Convention on Human Rights – Article 7 and 8 – which are practically modeling the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Without getting too into the weeds here, it provides the basic right of privacy. This includes in your home, your family life, your correspondence etc. Not only is this protecting you from unlawful intrusion of your information by the government, it is protecting your from unlawful collection of your information via private companies.

We have no such thing here in the US. Everything we do digitally is linked through an interweb of the handheld computer – we call smart phones. Not only this, but also from all the websites you visit on your computer. This data is taking each piece of your puzzle and it creates an identity that is essentially you.

Your GPS can provide where you work, where you live, if you’re having an affair, if you’re going to the hospital frequently – all of these individual steps may seem irrelevant in pieces but when it’s all sewn together – it is the digital embodiment of you. For some reason the US’s callus nature has individuals thinking this is normal. It’s normal to give up this right of privacy without any alternatives. When you download that app game, does it really need access to your photos? to your location? to your contacts? to your emails? — essentially anything it wants, just because you want to play that game and there’s no alternative choices. The more we just freely give up this information, the more it will become the norm until it gets into the wrong hands.

There’s a real concern for abuse, for misuse of the information. Who has this info? Where is it stored? How long is it stored? Why don’t we know? Now it’s becoming more and more prevalent to private entities. AT&T has provided a plan to charge people $30 more per month for the privilege of not selling their personal information. Insanity – why are we being charged for them to not sell our information? It’s a privilege and suddenly it’s being held ransom.

Nancy Kim, a professor at California Western School of Law stated, “Americans care a lot about privacy, too… The difference is that Europeans haven’t bought into the ‘market knows best’ philosophy.” We’re running a muck by allowing the market to dictate our rights. With an entire economic structure wrapped around the ventures of metadata buying and selling, there is no  safeguard to the people. The private entities own the war and the government is on the frontline.

Europe is on a speedy path for the people: the right to privacy from government intrusion and private intrusion alike.

The US is lagging behind and stacking the dollars. States are taking some precautions into their own hands like California.

Article 1, Section 1 of the California Constitution states ” All people are by nature free and independent and have an inalienable rights. Amoung these are enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possession, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and PRIVACY.”  Bravo California, lets keep on moving forward.

 

*Image provided by PixaBay – Creative Commons