Cell Phones and Privacy

Prepaid cell phones have a number of legitimate uses. A prepaid cell phone could be used as a teenagers first cell phone, due to the fact that they are not expensive, and the amount one pays for it can limit the teenager to learn self-control with how much they use it. Also, because of the price, prepaid cell phones are easy to replace if it is lost or damaged. Another legitimate use of a prepaid cell phone includes that it lets you control your spending. You are only able to make a certain number of calls because of the available minutes that you have paid for. It could depend on your lifestyle. Prepaid cell phones could be more economical for those who do not use a cell phone as frequently as others. For these people, it could be a way to get in contact with others in case of an emergency. You can also pay as you go with these phones, lifting a weight off your shoulders, knowing that there isn’t going to be a monthly bill coming in that needs to be paid. I do not think that prepaid cell phones should be banned, but law should control them. There should be no reason why someone would need to have a prepaid cell phone, and to be sneaky about it. If there is nothing to hide, there shouldn’t be a problem registering the phone. It is a way of protecting our national security in a way, because there are people who buy these prepaid cell phones, and use them to do bad things. Although this may be invading privacy in a way, it is protecting others from danger that could occur in the future. It all depends on the situation.

Location Tracking

There are multiple things that I can disagree and agree with concerning this topic. When it comes to the animal situation, it is very much like the child situation. By implanting a chip into a child, it invades their privacy, and takes away their rights as an individual. There are many risks when it comes to this topic including if the password or the device telling the parent the child’s location was broken into and stolen, leaving their children to be able to be tracked by a stranger.  Everyone is entitled to his or her own privacy; however, having these chips implanted is taking away their rights. When it comes to benefits, the only time that I think that this potentially could be acceptable is if the child continuously is putting itself in danger due to the fact that they wonder off by themselves. I do not think this thing should be permanent, but temporary until the child can learn how to communicate with their parents about where they are going and where they are expected to be in the future. I do not think it is right to have chips implanted in a teenager. They have the ability to communicate to their parents in most cases, and even though some teenagers misbehave more than others, there needs to be another way for the parents to be able to figure out where their children are because tracking them is invading their privacy. If there was a bill in congress to require ID chips in children under the age of five, I am not sure as to whether I would support it or not. I think that there are times when a family needs this due to certain circumstances, but there are other families that don’t because the parents feels that there is not problem, or potential danger, when it comes to keeping track of their kids. I think that it is a very creative idea having GPS shoes because it could help protect a loved one with a mental illness or disability from becoming harmed. I do think that if it were possible, to discuss this option with the person who would be wearing the shoes, even though you might not get a very straight answer due to the senior’s forgetfulness. GPS could prevent them from danger in the future, but there is always the fact that someone could find out where the person is by hacking into the device where one can see where they are located. This is a very had topic to answer because everyone should have a say in their privacy; however, there are certain times when one cant speak for themselves, leaving it up to someone else to decide. 

First Post!

Hi, my name is Katie and I am in Living in a Networked World, CS 408-01. This is my first post using blogger, and I am interested to learn how it works!