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Why We're Never Alone: How Privacy Really Works



Privacy is a major part of our lives. It allows us to keep certain matters to ourselves. However, privacy is very hard to come by in today's world. The use of privacy settings on social media websites gives us the illusion that we are keeping things to ourselves. However this is not the case.

As shown in the TED Talk given by Christopher Soghoian, our cell phones are wired by telecom companies for surveillance purposes. Wiretapping has been used by our government to listen to and record our calls. So when you're talking to anyone, our government, another government, or other agents could be listening in on our conversations. Devices such as iPhones are built with strong encryption, so they're harder to wiretap. 

Government officials aren't happy with this, however. They believe that everyone's information should be accessible to every government at all times. They believe that the best way to protect the public is to have unrestricted access into parts of our lives. While this can be true, it takes away parts of our freedom. 

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