The Pros And Cons Of Privacy And Security

From the data center, to the cloud, fog, and mist, the nature of data storage and access has transformed quite a bit over recent history. Although most would agree that the capabilities distributed computing have brought to society are quite expansive, every piece of technology always brings with it concerns and questions. Much like the French Philosopher Paul Virilio who stated, “When you invent the ship, you invent the shipwreck,” [1] the introduction of distributed ways of sharing and storing data have introduced the potential for it to be compromised. The question becomes whether or not the gains outweigh the costs. As a user and future member of the Information Security industry, I would have to say that the answer would be yes. With …show more content…
From the Warren and Brandeis definition of privacy as “the right to be let alone, [4]” to the countless others, how does distributed computing fit in here? Although all of us might greatly enjoy the benefits iPhones, apps, and databases have provided us, there are some concerns that need to be mentioned. First, the ubiquity of connections has proliferated the market of “need to know.” Every app or company, due to their transition to the edge or utilization of cloud computing, now feels a “need to know” who it is they are interacting with, and how. This spurs the need for more information, which spurs the need for more capacity, which then spurs the expansion of capability, which…creates a recursive loop. As this loop has played out, the creation of our digital personas has saturated cyberspace, ebbing and flowing with our utilization – or de-utilization – of certain technologies and leaving some of us feeling like we have lost control of our identity. Coupled with the ever-growing theme of data breaches and “big-data hacks” such as OPM, Target, and most-recently Yahoo, although this technology has clear advantages – efficiency, speed, access to knowledge to name a few – our lack of control of our identity creates a sense of anxiety, one which is not going away with …show more content…
The world in which we live in is a world of balance, requiring each of us and those at the helm of technology to look for the happy medium between overexposure and under-utilization. For some, this isn’t enough. For others, it doesn’t matter. I have put forth the opinion that by educating ourselves and harnessing the power of that which we call into question, we don’t have to be left hopeless and worrying about how our future might play out. I think Froomkin is onto something when he says “There is no magic bullet, no panacea….privacy-destroying technologies must be met with a legal and social response that is at least as subtle and multifaceted as the technological challenge.” [5, italics