Have you ever joked that your Siri or Alexa is spying on you, listening to your conversations, because it suddenly responds to you at random moments without you addressing the device? Or talked about xyz and then happen to see ads or tiktoks for it an hour later? It’s no secret now that this is the case, even if it doesn't account for the random replies.
I think that it is a major invasion of privacy when private actors like phone companies or even average people are spying on me and should be illegal. They certainly have no business violating my privacy, like for collecting or selling information about me that I do not consent to, especially since the aim is often for some kind of profit or manipulation. A perfect example comes from one of the TED talks I watched that talked about how your phone can track you and listen to your conversations.
When it comes to spying by the government or law enforcement, I have a bit of a hot take: I both do and don’t care if the government or police track me. I have nothing to hide and, as a more anecdotal example, if something were to happen to me, at least they might have some way of finding me. One example is the use of license plate scanners by the police. These scanners are very useful for identifying stolen cars and persons of interest for crimes like kidnapping, so I personally don’t mind. I’m not naive of the invasions of my privacy by the government and I know that it’s still a violation of our rights as Americans, but I do understand it to a point. Especially in the first few years following 9/11, I think the government acted more like an overprotective parent to some degree rather than using it as an excuse to spy for the sake of spying.
While the thought is scary if I think about it too hard and it is violating my rights, I doubt there's some creepy guy staring at me on a computer monitor 24/7 (although that is a distinct possibility with private actors such as hackers). It’s not realistic and yet I feel like many people get that impression. It’s more likely that most government “spying” is done by computers and algorithms designed to flag key words or activities. Human life is invaluable, so unlike most people, I think that if it truly does help protect us against terrorism and such, then the millions of lives saved is worth it.
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