The Good Part about Giving Up Some Privacy

David Brin, the author of The Challenge of an Open Society, argues that people are loosing their privacy because the governments in some cities (e.g. King's Lynn, Great Britain) started to install surveillance cameras on almost every corner with the goal to lower the crime rate. Even though the cameras helped to reduce crime dramatically in those cities many people are against the surveillance by the government because they don't want other people to know what they are doing all day long. The government also started to track cell phones via GPS. While many people claim that they are taken away their privacy, it is actually an efficient way to track criminals and solve crimes.

            
It is somehow understandable that law abiding citizens may not like the circumstance that they are monitored all the time. Even though only the police and government can see the cameras, some people don't want them to know what they are doing all the time. On the other hand, it is a useful way to prevent crime and for this reason I would say that I personally could live with it because the fact that crime would almost disappear would be worth for me to give up some privacy. The same goes with tracking cell phones; many people argue that it is wrong to monitor someone’s phone but the fact that the police was able to solve multiple crimes in the last couple years through this method is reason enough to argue that it is worth it.

In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the tracking of a phone helped the police to solve a crime. It was November 28th, 2011 when a man robbed another man. The robber stole one thing, his victim's iPhone. The victim had an app, called "FindMe", installed on his iPhone that made it possible for the police to track the robber and solve the crime. This is a perfect example that tracking a mobile phone can be an advantage rather than an evil for good behaving citizens.

         

           

             

It is understandable that people do not like the fact that they get watched 24/7 but while they complain about loosing their privacy if the police monitor them in the city or if they track their mobile phones, it is actually an efficient way to prevent and solve crimes. Many citizens don't understand the fact that these methods just make people’s lives safer. If somebody is a law abiding citizen, he shouldn't even care about the fact that he gets controlled by the police or government because he doesn't have to hide anything.