Privacy and Innovation

The issue of privacy and surveillance affects every single person in this country every day of their lives. That may seem like a bold statement or a gross overgeneralization, but it's true. The world that we live in today is centered around data management and raking in as much information as possible; data is the new gold. From the technology that we use such as social media and websites that we visit, both companies in the private sector and government agencies have access to so much of our information.

 Just look at the kind of data the popular social media app TikTok has access to by you creating an account: how long you scroll for, how long you stay on a specific video, what apps you have on your phone, all of your keystrokes in and outside of the app, and more. They have a window into your habits and your life as a whole. In the first video by Juan Enriquez, he talks about your data being a digital tattoo; the things you do online, the content you consume, the websites you visit, and the conversations you have last forever on the internet. It's a scary concept.

This is where the government should take action and mitigate some of this data mining. Now as a libertarian, I am generally for less government interference, but this issue of data privacy is vitally important to the security of private citizens. There need to be more laws put in place like The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018  which give consumers The right to correct inaccurate personal information that a business has about them and the right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information collected about them.

Putting the power back into the hands of the people is what is vitally important in today's increasingly digital world.