The right to privacy is one of the fundamental components of the US Constitution. Although right from the First Amendment, citizens are subtly granted privacy rights, the formal and clear clause is included in the Fourth Amendment. The clause gives people the privilege to keep their privacies and liberties intact. Furthermore, it denounces the unjustified searches of the subject’s belongings and apprehension(Bernal, 2014). There was no internet at the time of the amendment, so some opinions view that it does not extend to the internet. However, online information is equally essential to secure as others since online data is extremely vulnerable to misuse.
Large corporations such as Facebook were found involved in a violation of civil rights, as the users’ data was sold to Cambridge Analytica without the consent of the users (“The Cambridge Analytica saga is a scandal of Facebook’s own making,” 2018). The constitution does not allow anyone to misuse the personal data of an individual for personal usage, as it comes under data theft and privacy violation. It is the responsibility of the government and the law enforcement authorities to look after all such violations and secure the people’s data. State and federal privacy efforts must be enhanced to address any issues related to data theft or privacy violations. The right to privacy is often referred to as the concept that an individual’s personal information must be kept protected from all kinds of public scrutiny, and no one must be allowed to get access to it until the person himself/herself allows others to view or use it.
Healthcare institutions must also take good measures to secure the patients’ information, as it can be misused by the authorities if proper checks and balances are not maintained. There are some amendments to the U.S. Constitution that provide several kinds of data protection to technology users, but these are not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution. The right to privacy is a term that is more often referred to and protected by statutory law. For instance, the HIPPA Act was established just to secure an individual’s health records, and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Act was specifically made to ensure the right to privacy through several privacy statements and privacy policies. Government authorities and law enforcement agencies must improve their measures to get hold of such huge corporations that are violating the right to privacy of large populations at a global pace. The right to privacy is often referred to as the right to personal autonomy.
The use of data by Cambridge Analytica is extremely unlawful since it not only violated the privacy of users, but it managed to use it to manipulate voters, too. Thus, national security is put at stake with such a malign intent. The use of a person’s attribute to define a person is not wrong and can be used to research behaviors. However, using data to shape people’s opinions by sharing information with them that may change one’s viewpoint is immensely unethical (Cate & Litan, 2002).
The breach of privacies, whether online or not, should be dealt with with an iron fist. The department or the firm involved should be penalized with a considerable fine, and in extreme situations, the subject should be barred from operation as long as a viable amendment is made. The victims should be compensated with an appropriate amount of money, and the sold data should be destroyed at the purchasers’ end under the surveillance of independent bodies. Moreover, it should be left to the victims to decide through a referendum whether or not the violators should be allowed to continue. Privacy campaigns in recent times have taken the world by storm, and people’s concerns should be settled precisely and effectively.
References
Bernal, P. (2014). Internet privacy rights: rights to protect autonomy (No. 24). Cambridge University Press.
Cate, F. H., & Litan, R. (2002). Constitutional issues in information privacy. Mich. Telecomm. & Tech. L. Rev., 9, 35.
The Cambridge Analytica saga is a scandal of Facebook’s own making. (2018). www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/21/cambridge-analytica-facebook-data-users-profit
