Week 5 EOC

One of the major issues with the internet today is people being paranoid about the government tracking what they are doing online, personally I don’t understand why so many people hate that the government can do this, what are the odds of the government actually monitoring what you are doing, I don’t care if they monitor what I do because it would be pointless, they wouldn’t find anything, if they were monitoring me I would laugh because usually when I’m on the internet, it’s because I’m bored, so now they get to sit there and be bored with me. There are actually people trying to make it legal to monitor what you are doing online now though.

Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) allows the government to obtain access to digital communications -- including email, Facebook messages, information sitting in your public cloud provider's databases, and a variety of other files -- with only a subpoena and not a warrant once those items are 180 days old.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/031213-privacy-laws-267614.html

I don’t know what they are thinking, but I think this is one of the stupidest things they can possibly do, when people were told that the government was monitoring what people were doing, people started complaining about how the government should respect their privacy, and I think its funny how people complain about their privacy and they start trying to pass laws that would legally allow them to see what people are doing, even though its after 180 days, it’s still a bad idea, especially since it’s the people that vote them into office to start with.

Even with laws like these trying to be passed, there are other bills that are trying to be passed that actually help people with their privacy concerns.

The Right to Know Act has been getting a great deal of attention. Civil liberties organizations, privacy advocates and women’s groups have been urging the state legislature to pass the bill — and if the will of the people were the only consideration, it would seem destined to pass speedily. But powerful tech companies are lined up against the bill — and it’s looking like it will be a tough fight.

http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/30/internet-privacy-a-new-bill-finally-offers-protections/

I don’t understand how a law like this would have trouble being passed, the ECPA would allow the government to monitor what people are doing after 6 months, and people are complaing about why it shouldn’t be passed because it’s an invasion of privacy, and the right to know act demands that companies tell the public what they are doing with their personal information and would probably make the public feel a lot better about what they put online (or teach them what not to put online) and all different groups are supporting it, and it is still having trouble being passed.