Edgar Sandoval

2/21/16
CST 373
My Concepts of Privacy
In recent weeks and months privacy has become a hot button issue to Americans
from all walks of life. It has transitioned into an increasingly polarizing issue in both the
Democratic and Republican primaries, with both parties leaning towards pro surveillance.
For me, privacy is a very important aspect of every day life. I spend the majority of my
day on the Internet or using network-connected devices, and I find it troubling that the
interactions between my client and an arbitrary server are being diligently logged in order
to create a profile about me. There are many factors that contributed to my current
feelings about privacy including my upbringing, and, more recently, my understanding of
the web and crypto-technologies.
My upbringing played a big part in my understanding of personal privacy. I grew
up in a modestly sized household with a younger brother and a younger sister. My mother
and father were always very busy starting their businesses, so the three of us spent a lot of
time together independent from our parents with our cousin. For many years, earlier in
my life, our family shared a house with my uncle and my aunt. In total, there was about
nine of us living in my childhood home at any given point in time. We lived in a
suburban area of the East Bay a few minutes away from San Jose, and an hour away from
San Francisco. During that time none of us had much or any privacy. Luckily, I didnt
have any understanding of the idea of what privacy was and I grew up feeling like no
privacy was normal. Religion did not have much influence on my thoughts on privacy as

a child, but we were always told that the Lord was watching. As my family started
climbing the socioeconomic ladder, my aunt and uncles families moved out, and all of
the individuals had more space to call their own.
I started becoming more comfortable with my newfound privacy and when I left
for college, I opted for the single room suite as opposed to the double and triple filled
living quarters. In the beginning, living in a suite with my own room was nice, but I
always felt like I never got the true freshman year dorm experience, where you share
pretty much everything with your dorm mates. My first year away left a longing of
camaraderie, and my second year I changed that by moving into my fraternitys off
campus property. At the house, everything was back to how it felt during my childhood. I
lived at that location for 3 years and every year I shared the house with anywhere from
15-23 guys. Suffice it to say that the concept of privacy was absent during the time I lived
at this property and pretty much until I graduated from my undergraduate institution.
During these years the privacy debate was relatively new and beginning to gain steam.
Not many people were talking about it, but there was enough buzz where you would have
formed an opinion on the matter. I remember that during this time I felt like I didnt need
to worry about my privacy online. I used the same argument that many people use today,
I dont do anything bad online, so why would I have to worry about the government
watching me? This argument is one of the most widely used by people who are
indifferent and/or favor online surveillance. During my undergrad, I stood by this
argument because I felt that it was for the greater good. If we allowed surveillance, we
would potentially be able to thwart terror attacks on American soil. As my career focus
shifted, so did my position on privacy.

After I left my undergraduate institution, I began studying computer science. It

was a very weird change going from kinesiology to computer science, but I needed to
make a change for the better so that I could start a more promising career after
graduation. During my dive into computer science, I started to learn, second hand, about
what network security and privacy actually meant. It became much more apparent to me
exactly what type of information was being collected about me when I visited certain
websites and how companies were using this information to market things to me.
Furthermore, the information that these companies collect is often sold to other
corporations so that they can build individualized marketing based on my profile. From
the companys perspective this policy makes sense because they can provide a free
product for users while simultaneously making money on selling user information. From
the consumers perspective, this is usually hidden in plain sight within a companys
privacy policy. Without some background knowledge in computer science, I would not
have been able to understand the methods behind how companies, and the government,
are able to collect information about users online.
With my knowledge of computer science I was also able to identify companies
and technologies that take a hard stance on user privacy. For example, Apple is one of the
few companies in Silicon Valley that takes their users privacy very seriously. In the past
year, they have been given one of the highest ratings of any company for their
commitment to privacy. Furthermore, in the last week they have been involved in an
ongoing fight with the Federal Bureau of Investigations on relaxing some iOS security
features so that the FBI can get into the San Bernardino shooters iPhone 5c. Their stance
on this issue has garnered a lot of support from the tech community but also a lot of push

back from conservative groups and from groups that do not understand the complexities
of technology. If Apple were to give into the demands of the government it would set a
bad precedent for privacy in the future and it may give the FBI the ability to spy on
phones at will. Furthermore, building what the FBI envisions in this endeavor would
mean that Apple is intentionally creating a security flaw on their platform that can
potentially allow malicious users to exploit this vulnerability.
Corporations like Google and Twitter have publicly supported Apple during this
time, but there needs to be greater support from individuals outside of the tech bubble. I
believe that with Apples current conflict we are at a crossroads. If they decide to
concede to the FBI, or if they lose their battle in the judicial system, we will be crippling
the ability our technological infrastructure to protect itself, and in the future, exposing it
to an attack from a malicious group. Once the infrastructure is crippled, online privacy
would be an idea of the past, and we would have completed our trip into the Orwellian
society.