Debate on Privacy Essay Sample

Privacy. Privacy is the right to be let alone or freedom from interference or intrusion. As defined, everyone needs privacy in order to feel safe, free, and comfortable. There are many ways problems could occur without privacy. For example, everyone would know what others are doing, or government secrets would be revealed. That’s all a problem because if everyone knew what others would do, no individual would feel safe. Government secrets being revealed could lead to chaos and havoc, which is something some people don’t want. It’s nice to have that barrier of protection and privacy sometimes because it allows everyone to have power and control over it and not feel like they don’t have it. It can be scary to not have control over something you need.

Furthermore, people have different opinions on privacy. Whether it's necessary, there’s too much of it, or too little. To me, privacy means to feel secure, safe, and free. Having privacy allows us all to have our own will and freedom. Most of us have control over our privacy. Others, like celebrities, don’t have that much control over their privacy. However, the society in the book, 1984, doesn’t have any control over their privacy because the Party is the one who controls it. For instance, in 1984 Winston states, “Privacy, he said, was a very valuable thing. Everyone wanted a place where they could be alone occasionally. And when they had such a place, it was only common courtesy in anyone else who knew of it to keep his knowledge to himself” Here privacy to Winston meant having something valuable or privacy itself being valuable because it’s very rare to have it in his society with the Party always keeping a watch on society. If anyone did find privacy the best thing to do is keep it to themselves because, in their society, privacy is restricted. 

In addition, it’s important to have privacy in our society because it helps us establish boundaries to limit who has access to us, places, and things, as well as our information. Everyone has different levels of privacy. For example, influencers might not have the same level of privacy that others have because their life is on display through social media. There are some privacy issues in our society as well. It’s not just from social media, it can be from personal information being released or being watched by surveillance cameras. Privacy allows us to keep stuff to ourselves and not feel obligated to share. Unlike, in the book, 1984, no one can keep things to themselves because it’s forbidden. Society is forced to support the Party because if they don’t they are punished. In our society, we have control over our privacy and don’t have to share certain things if we don’t want to.

In other words, the current debate on privacy with security, terrorism, and the constitution as a whole. The con part of this debate is that more security equals less privacy, it’s a 50/50 situation. There would be less privacy for society, but the constitution would have more privacy with added security. It also leads to less terrorism with more security. In the article “The Problem with Privacy,” Anna Dorothea Ker says, “In the government’s balancing act of anti-terrorism provisions versus civil liberties, enhanced national security measures severely degraded citizens’ right to privacy.” Here the author talks about how increasing security to prevent terrorism lowers citizens’ privacy. If society doesn’t have that barrier of privacy, trust will be broken or damaged because nobody would feel safe. Therefore, the current debate on this whole situation is still up for discussion because there are probably other people who have different opinions than what I wrote. 

To conclude, privacy is one of the most important things a society can have. Having control over privacy is beneficial because it gives us some kind of power and makes us feel safe and free. However, not everyone has the same level of privacy. For instance, in the book, 1984, society doesn’t have privacy. We all should appreciate the amount of privacy we have because, without it, people would feel defenseless or unsafe.