PrIvAcY iN a TeChNoLoGiCaL wOrLd

Over the past weeks we have talked of modifying the body using modern technology to improve or customise it. A concept where in the future the cell phone would be implanted within the human ear at birth was raised. These ideas left me thinking of our, the human’s relationship with privacy and the impact technology has had upon it.

We are obsessed with being able to be contacted and communicated with at any time and in any place through a variety of different technological mediums. Yet, if you are anything like me you wish to (and can to an extent) get away from them at times and find some personal privacy.

In a world where everyone had a piece of technology implanted within their ear, my fear would be that I was being used or tracked without my knowing. A few months ago I was stopped by a cop who wrote down my name, address and phone number. Without thinking I gave him my cell phone number before realizing that with modern technology and government or corporate consent, the cops could, if they so desired locate my phone and therefore track my own movements.

The west is so intent on keeping its freedom, yet surely such bodily modifications would be an intrusion on this front. How would one be able to accurately know whether their own modification was not spying on or gathering data for someone else? While technology can at times be used in creating privacy, such as through security or surveillance technology, where does it cross the boundary of privacy and intrude into an individual’s life? Maybe I have just watched to many movies…