The Right to Privacy in the Information Age Essay -- Exploratory Essay

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In a day in the life of Joe, an ordinary American, he drives to the office, owrks at a computer, browses in a shop at lunch time, then picks up some milk and a video on the way home, where a pile of junk mail and bills await him. At every stop alo ng the way, his doings can be watched, monitored, tabulated, and sold. On this typical day, Joe, our ordinary American, does not realize how technology has changed his private life. Joe's driving route may be tracked by a sophisticated traffic system. At work, his employer can listen in to his business conversations on the telephone, and tap into his computer, e-mail, or voice-mail. At the shopping center, the secret closed-circuit camera may seek him out personally. The shop is allowed to put peepho les in the fitting rooms. Some have hidden microphones, too. If he uses his credit card, not only does the card company keep tabs on when, where, and what he buys, it may sell that data to other marketers. A purchas e of out-door furniture means catalog s selling barbecue grills, mowing machines, or lawn seed are likely to be piled as junk mail in his mail box. Quickly he sits down at his desk and fills out the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes Entry form, hoping that this time Ed McMahon will arrive at his door with the big check, so he eagerly supplies personal information which, unknowingly to him, will be sold to other marketers and distributed to databases throughout the world. Joe is unaware of others who, on this typical day in the electronic age, ha ve peered into his private life.    Technology plays a significant part in today's society. As technology advances, new controversies arise, many involving privacy rights. Medical, workplace, and consumer pri... ...per, Michael. "With Success of Cameras, Concerns over Privacy." New York Times 5 Feb. 1997: B4. Dowd, Ann Reilly. "Protect Your Privacy." Money Aug. 1997: 107-108, 112. Everett-Green, Robert. "Cyberspace." 1996 Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year. 1996. Goode, Stephen. "Are Privacy Rights Still Inalienable?" Insight Magazine on the News 19 Aug. 1996: 18-19. Houlder, Vanessa. "The Blessing and Curse of E-mail." World Press Review June 1997: 33-34. Long, Robert Emmet. Rights to Privacy. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1997. "Medical Privacy is Under Attack." [http://www.ACLU.org] 26 Oct. 1997. "Workplace in America." [http://www.ACLU.org] 26 Oct. 1997. "We Know You're Reading This." Economist 10 Feb. 1996: 28. "William Faulkner: On Privacy." The Annals of America Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1968.