Is Privacy a Thing of the Past? – Conflict between Privacy and Security

The trade off  between data privacy and personal security has been argued for so long time, and it is always a controversial topic for scholars to discuss or debate. On our computer science class, my classmates Bob and Angel led a debate about this topic among all the classmates.

We all know that FBI demanded a universal key from Apple Inc. The universal key is able to unlock all the Apple Inc. users’ electronic devices and get information . FBI is responsible for protecting the US citizens from terrorism. FBI wanted to obtain information from terrorists’ phones in order to track them and arrest them.  Apparently, numerous people around the world use Apple electronic devices. So do terrorists. That is what FBI wanted to get the universal key from Apple Inc. However, Apple refused to offer that universal key because they tended to protect their users’ privacy of information and wish for growing a good reputation of selling high-privacy products. (Liu and Huang)

I stood for FBI during the debate. We focused on personal right and consider it as our main standpoint. Since the rights of privacy is included in personal right, and the foundation of personal right is people’s states of living. For instance, as long as a person dead, he or she no long had any right which includes the right of privacy. Therefore, security is more important than privacy, and FBI must get the universal key to protect the US citizens’ security.

Our counterpart, Apple Inc. made good points as well. They mentioned the fact that there is no concrete evidence that shows FBI is able to protect the universal key and conceal it in an absolutely safe place. Technology developed very quickly, and advanced technological techniques are invented frequently. Thus, no one can ensure the safety of the universal key. If the universal key lost or is widely spread, both Apple users’ privacy and Apple Inc. will be affected tremendously.

I assume that the conflict between privacy and security will never end. Therefore, what we can do is to be careful when we are putting our personal information on any website or social medium by checking those websites’ or social media’s reliability.

Works Cited

Liu, Bob and Angel Huang. “FBI Vs. Apple Inc.”. 2016. Presentation.

“Windows 10 Privacy Issues: There’s An “Off” Button For That”. Trend Micro USA. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.