Young people, namely college students are generally assumed to be more savvy to technological changes, as we seem to be the first ones with the new smartphone, the new macBook, and the new mP3 player etc etc. For this reason it seemed an interesting topic to divulge into whether these same students were equally wary of the technology which we so desperately cling to.
Research has shown that even in our most secure state concerning our privacy we still remain completely insecure. As technology becomes more advanced, every aspect of our lives become more penetrable to others around us. Cell phones have become a necessity to everyday life and technology for cell phones have improved a lot in a short amount of time. While these advances have made possible things like Face Time on the iPhone 4, they have also brought about even more concerns over privacy. Cell phones have evolved a great deal in the past few years, now many including GPS trackers, which are obviously able to lock and grasp where a person's phone(and therefore generally that person) is located. A person with a simpler phone might for this reason feel as though they are secure from this invasion, having none of the extra bells and whistles of today's smart phone. However, even the most simple of phones has to “communicate their location to a base station in order to carry or receive calls. Therefore, whenever a cell phone is in use, or set to receive calls, it effectively identifies the location of its user every few minutes” (Froomkin 1479). Although this feature can be very useful for example when a person is lost or missing, it can also be very invasive for someone who does not want any person with access to this system (including for example the government, solicitors or perhaps a spouse whom you have left for a very good reason) to know where they were. Each of the students surveyed, including those with only basic cell phones, were highly aware of the ability to track their phone.
Not only are we constantly being tracked on our cell phones, but there is also a lack of distinction in the law in regards to what defines our privacy in regards to our cell phones. There are many thoughts regrading this issue, but no consensus on what we can expect. “Some courts have allowed police to search a suspect’s phone without a search warrant, holding that a person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the phone directory of his cell phone. In contrast, other courts held that it was an invasion of privacy for a wireless company to disclose the content of text messages a police officer sent to coworkers without the officer’s consent (“privacyrights.org”)”. Previously law had to be erected against actions such as wiretapping, perhaps now the same thing will have to occur to protect ones text messages from being viewed by a police officer or other member of the law.
Faults of our own are now resulting in the loss of our privacy. For example the use of cellular phones in public has yet to stop being annoying for those who have to hear the conversation. But And while you are trying to convey your message to whomever you are proceeding to have your conversation with, you have managed to attract other listeners in the public. In what one researcher has identified as the “need-to-listen effect” (Monk, Fellas, Lay) by conversing in public and allowing for one half of a conversation you are in turn attracting the attention of those around you. In doing our survey I found that most of the males were not nearly as concerned with having their conversations overheard as were the females, and therefore did the least [meaning lowering their voices] to prevent this. The reasons behind this can only be speculated towards but perhaps this is due to the fact that females are often taught by society to be not only more careful, but also less trusting because there are people who are interested in taking advantage of you. These lessons that fathers and mothers have taught their daughters in regards to the guys who they date or a choice to walk alone in the dark may have carried over to this area of our survey. Or perhaps males just talk less on their phones. But once again only speculation.
Many people are clueless about the amount of information their cell phone can give away or retain about him or her. Actions that would generally be seen as charitable and giving can sometimes backfire when involving the new states of our technological world. For example, I'm sure most of us have seen ads asking for donations of used cell phones to different groups, whether the phones are going to deployed soldiers or people searching for work who are in need of a phone for example. These phones that we are probably no longer in need of are going toward a very good cause, however these devices could also contain valuable information pointing directly back to you on them. You may think that when you “delete” all of your contacts and text messages and other visible information that you are not longer connected with this phone. But in thinking that you would be wrong. “Similar to computers, choosing to delete information simply creates new space but the data is retained until enough new information is added to write over the old information” (“privacyrights.org”), there is a pretty decent chance that this information that information you think you have gotten ride of is still floating around on your device waiting to be permanently deleted (instructions for doing so should be found in your owners manual).
Cell phones: Useful (and somewhat necessary) but invasive... But I'm still going to keep using mine...
Here's a link to the survey!
“Fact Sheet 2b: Privacy in the Age of the Smartphone.” privacyrights.org. Privacy Rights Clearinghouse/UCAN, Sept 2010. Web. 13 Oct 2010. <http://privacyrights.org/fs/
Froomkin, A. Michael. “The Death of Privacy?.” Stanford Law Review. 52. 5 (2000): 1461-1543. Print
Monk, Andrew, Evi Fellas, and Eleanor Ley. “Hearing only one side of normal and mobile phone conversations.” Behaviours & Information Technology. 23.5 (2004): 301-305. Print
Good resources and an interesting reference to the "need to listen" effect. Uniquely, your survey pursued the issue of self control on one's cell phone when talking to another party. The differences you mentioned by gender could have several different explanations (as you noted) but the differences you observed alone were intriguing. I also wonder if the CONTENT of one's cell conversation between males and females is significantly different. Your data confirmed that most cell users do not have the knowledge to protect one's identity. I would have really liked to have seen some of the actual numbers you collected in the survey. There were several questions on the survey link that you did not refer to specifically. Perhaps that might be possible for some future post. Overall, thanks for pursing the gender angle of cell phone privacy.
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