Privacy

Privacy

In the United States, the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights gives people the right to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizers” unless under “probable cause” where the search or seizer is under Oath or affirmation. (U.S. Const. am. 4) Privacy is a fundamental freedom and right under our constitution and democracy and includes the right to be left alone, as well as the right to privacy in both our communication and the contents of our personal data. (Reynolds 135)

Privacy Protection

            Information privacy is the combination between having the ability to conversations unmonitored by any person or organizaiton and to limit access to one's personal data. (Reynolds 135) With the ever expanding technology field, some product push the limits of privacy protection and the ethics surrounding protection. Amazon’s Echo is a smart home device that is used to assist the user in various tasks through voice control. It uses Alexa for its natural-language processing system to recognize and understand what the user wants. (Clauser) The voice recordings are streamed to Amazon’s cloud once the initial command is stated. (Clauser) The data is then “securely stored” on Amazon’s servers. (Sauer) Amazon employs a team to “listen to voice recordings captured in Echo owners’ homes and offices.” (Day) They also state that, “the recordings are transcribed, annotated and then fed back into the software as part of an effort to eliminate gaps in Alexa’s understanding of human speech and help it better respond to commands.” (Day) Access to voice recordings requires multiply layer authentication and buyers can opt out of voice recordings by making changes to the default privacy settings. (Day) Amazon would claim their product is not eavesdropping because the user bought and agreed to the terms and services of the product and within the terms of agreement, the buyer has the right to disable certain listening, voice recording, and data collection features. (Day) There are no government laws directly prohibiting Amazon from selling products with features like the ones found in Amazon's Echo.  Unsuspecting costumers could find these unregulated features too intrusive, and that they threaten the right to privacy of the users.

Privacy Impacts in IT Businesses

            With large fines being applied to social media companies like Facebook and Google regarding consumer privacy, companies are going to need to adapt to the upcoming privacy standards for producers to avoid fines and unfavorable publicity. (Johnson) European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will soon become the standard for all companies including ones located in the United States, data transparency will no longer be an optional business plan, and abiding by different countries regulations and laws will only become more complicated. (Johnson)

Works Cited

Reynolds, George Walter. Ethics in Information Technology. 5th ed., Cengage, 2019.

Johnson, Keith. “The Impact Of Data Privacy On Your Business.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 14 Sept. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/09/14/the-impact-of-data-privacy-on-your-business/#164b0b5f196c.

Day, Matt, et al. “Amazon Workers Are Listening to What You Tell Alexa.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 10 Apr. 2019, 5:34 PM CDT, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/is-anyone-listening-to-you-on-alexa-a-global-team-reviews-audio.

Sauer, Gerald. “A Murder Case Tests Alexa's Devotion to Your Privacy.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, www.wired.com/2017/02/murder-case-tests-alexas-devotion-privacy/.

Clauser, Grant. “What Is Alexa? What Is Amazon Echo, and Should You Get One?” Wirecutter, 12 Apr. 2019, thewirecutter.com/reviews/what-is-alexa-what-is-the-amazon-echo-and-should-you-get-one/.

"The Constitution of the United States," Amendment 4.