Privacy Essay Research Paper Privacy is something

Privacy Essay, Research Paper

Privacy is something that is everywhere, it is all around you. Privacy is where you eat, it is where you work, it is the people you associate with, it has everyone to do with you and where you do it at. Privacy is highly controversial between individuals, some people shrug it off and say, I have nothing to hide others just don t feel its necessary for someone to know what kind of things they put in their weekly trash. Are new privacy laws needed. Should the government start putting restrictions on what a person or company should know about someone and their past. These questions are very controversial and the answers will vary from person to person because of our different beliefs and traditions. Read along to understand how privacy affects us, how it is being misused, and how our personal information is being let out.

Privacy is everywhere, one place where privacy is often questioned as being too invasive is in the work place. Employers sometimes take it too far, such as monitoring email mailboxes of the employees and also putting up surveillance cameras in order to record daily routines of employees. A study by Nielsen Media Research found that counted together, IBM, Apple, and At&t employees visited Penthouse Magazine s Website 12,823 times in less than one month in 1996 (Grover). Nielsen Media also noted that the average stay was 13 minutes, which amounts to 347 eight-hour working days (Grover). Should this be allowed, the monitoring of websites viewed by the employees while they are in the office. From one aspect I can understand an employer wants to make sure that work is getting done in exchange for a paycheck at the end of the week, but at the same time employees are not robots, and they deserve some freedom. The information super-highway, or the Internet, is one way that we exploit ourselves daily, however we will get back to the Internet in a minute.

Employers monitor workers out of the office also. One way they do this is by giving drug tests and inquiring about their relationships with fellow co-workers, should this be allowed or do you feel that you are being controlled by the agency you work for. Perhaps the hardest thing for an employer to do is to decide where to draw the line when it comes to the privacy of an employee. The smallest things that we over look tell our companies what we do and who we do them with. For instance, when you are filling out an application for employment a commonly asked question is Have you ever been convicted of a felony. Most companies will not hire you if you have been convicted of a felony, regardless of the fact that you might of went through the state s correctional system and rehabilitated into a law-biding citizen. This just does not seem fair that people are getting judged by there past and that they have no way of protecting or changing it. How much should an employer need to know in order to decide if you are going to be a good candidate to fill the job description or not.

Another job application requirement that has always baffled me is the request for references. I do not understand how an employer can ask an applicant for the names, addresses, phone numbers, and occupations of three or more people that are going to say good things about them. I can fully comprehend contacting previous employers in order to talk about job habits, attendance, and expectations for the applicant. It just seems to me that talking to an applicant s friend would provide a very biased opinion.

Video surveillance is another way of monitoring how a worker is going through the day and what kind of work they are getting done. Video cameras are something that you will find in lots of offices today. In the 1998 American Management Association report it showed that 67% of all organizations today have some kind of electronic monitoring over employees (Bevolyn). Three main reasons were provided for this surveillance; performance evaluation (For example, Customer Service Staff), compliance with federal and local laws (For example, Banks), and cost control measures to track employees who browse the Internet or dial 1-900 phone numbers. It is shown that financial service providers and large companies, those with 2,500 employees or more, are most likely to monitor their employees (Bevolyn). So, the next time that you decide to take that 10-minute power nap at your desk or send an e-mail to a buddy you might consider taking a look over your shoulder and see who s watching.

How does privacy really affect us in today s lives. Do you care if someone were to steal your garbage and sort through it in order to find out what kind of toothpaste you use and what kind of pizza you eat. Some people say that they have nothing to hide and that it would not bother them if you were to go through their things and watch what they do. On the other hand most people, including myself, believe that what they do is their business and that others do not need to know their business. Coming around election time when the main political parties are all campaigning to promote their candidate for office. The media is filled with false claims of the other party s candidates. These include skipping out of the draft, using illegal drugs, and many other illegal or un-ethical activities. All the information portrayed in these ads comes from loads and loads of research which is done mainly by normal citizens like you a