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I will be honest. I feel under surveillance. The documentary makes me think deeply about the way I am using technology. Well, not only me but society. There were many times I was shocked and scared and I will tell you some of those moments.  I feel over watched  by the government 24/7. Now that I am writing this blog, and from the moment I was watching the documentary I started thinking that my data is collected and can be used anytime by third parties. One of the speakers in the documentary says “be careful with  your posts on social media.” Our society nowadays share everything on social media platforms, follow people, brands, write thoughts and jokes, and make business as well. In other words social media and internet are our primary tool of everyday communication. There is nothing negative about it. Which it is negative is that what you share can be considered harmful or inappropriate for the government. In other words, we all need to think twice before we share on social media platforms if we do not want to catch the attention of the security agency and they get in trouble.A second point that shocks me is the power a company has over users when we agree on their terms and conditions. It is unbelievable the way users accept to share all personal information without knowledge of all the consequences it can bring. It is true that the terms and conditions section is long and sometimes boring to read. But, it is essential to know what we are accepting to. If later we get in trouble for a post, or one of our pictures  is used by a third party we cannot complain about it because all these actions are legal since we accepted the conditions. Did everyone knows it? Maybe not, because not many people ready terms and conditions.  The third point that catch my attention is that nothing is free. As one of the speaker in the documentary says and we have discussed in class. We all like to get free things, free service, internet, food, and more. But, have we stopped and think what is it the real cost of these “free” things? The answer is the exchange of our privacy. One example is Google service “in return for free wireless access, Google announced its plans to use the information it gathered about users’ locations within the city to bombard them with time- and location-specific ads, or what it calls “contextual advertising” (Andrejevic,1). In other words when we get “free Wi-F” we all are allowing google to get our personal information and use it as they need. Due to this exchange of services we are bombarded with advertising, and allow surveillance programs to have power on us.

Based on this documentary and discussions in class I believe Federal Government has power over everything and everyone in this society. Federal Government controls each movement we do and enforce services such as google or Facebook to retain information of their users. Which it is shocks me because there is no privacy since our personal information can be shared when it is necessary. NSA National Security Agency has access to all American communication such as: phone-calls, and everything is recorded. Ex President Obama says “Surveillance company is consider as a program from national security.”  From my point, the relationship between economic system and the system of government control is that both entities have a huge power and work together. Facebook, google and other platforms are spies in order to give information to the American government. The majority of police department track social media for criminal investigations. These different powers of control, spies activities, and surveillance programs affects people freedom of speech. For example, people who are afraid of government because it is monitoring their messages are more likely to create other accounts, and do not share everything they think about specific topics such as political and social issues. Although one of the purposes of surveillance programs is to prevent terrorist attacks, when those laws are created should be developed and applied with safeguards that do not eliminate our freedom of speech. Is there any way to prevent sharing our information? Well, I do not think so since the society we live in is controlled by technology. For example, the way we do business has changed and one of the biggest examples is the platform eBay. This platform allows people to buy and sell goods. “eBay is a ‘free market’ that allows individuals and small traders to compete effectively with larger companies” (Athique, 214). As a consumer this is a great opportunity to buy anything we want from our house, whenever we want it. But, let’s think deeply. When we use an app or a webpage to buy or do a research our personal information such as names, address, and credit card numbers is saved and shared with either the government or other third parties. I do not see a way we can have to avoid sharing information.

In other words privacy is dead.

I will leave you a reading which I found interesting about actions that the Government is taking about post on social media platforms. The reading is from The Intercept (source)  The U.S. Government Wants to Read Travelers’ Tweets Before Letting Them In

Questions:

1. Do you think people have lost their freedom speech due to surveillance activities? If so, how?
2. In the last couple of month immigration officers are more strict with tourists. An example of this is a friend of mine who came from Ecuador for vacations and was took his phone away to be searched. He mentioned that the officer started looking for keywords such as “work” in his conversation history in order to make sure he is not staying as undocumented. Have you heard another story like this where our privacy is violated.  What do you think about the last incidents related with post on social media?