Protecting Privacy: Education, Technology, and Markets

In GOF 2.5, Sarah Baase talks about ways to prevent the loss of privacy. First of all, people must be aware of the problems in technology; people need to understand the possibility of the misuse of information given out, and must be careful. There are also technologies that increase the security of databases, or large storehouses of information that have the possibility of being distributed. One of the hugest problems that people have to face is the possibility of losing privacy. Unfortunately, there are trade-offs in technology; sometimes we have to make sacrifices when we use certain technologies. For example, many Americans feel that having wires tapped is worth the safety that could come along with it, after the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. Therefore, in order to live with today's technology, we all must make some sacrifices of privacy. The question is, is it too high a price to pay? Also, the accessability of information on the Internet means that people need to be more careful about what the put online, bu tisn't that a restiction of our rights to freedom of speech? Unfortunately, the government can't be trusted to regulate information online, because the government itself uses and abuses the information online. It looks like it's up to us, the citizens, to regulate what's online; but with big brother looking over our shoulder, is there a way to have complete freedom with what we can say and do (which is our right, as stated in the constitution)?