Elizabeth Casanova

Research Proposal

Question:

Should the government be able to access our private messages to monitor illegal activity?

Answer:

As our world changes, and hackers get better at their jobs, the need for end-to-end

encryption has become clear. Many social media companies like Facebook and WhatsApp are

offering this service and promise more security with it. This topic is intriguing to me because

social media has become a large part of our everyday lives in the last 10 years. Almost everyone

we encounter daily uses social media in some way. It allows us to keep in contact with our

family, friends and colleagues that may live far away. We also can be in constant contact with

whoever we want.

Before 9/11, the United States had begun to pass legislation to protect our privacy rights.

Once the events of 9/11 happened, it changed our perspective on privacy. In the article titled,

“Privacy Rights on the Internet: Self-Regulation or Government Regulation?” by Norman E.

Bowie and Karim Jamal, they talk about how we are autonomous beings that are capable of

rationality, and responsible decision making. “Privacy enables us to choose with whom we share

personal intimate information. Our control over with whom to share intimate information helps us to

distinguish between friends and acquaintances.” (Bowie and Jamal) They state how privacy affects our

early self-identity and autonomy. Privacy shapes who we become as individuals. In their conclusion they

state “we adopt a mixed approach relying on the voluntary use of privacy seals as much as possible. In so

doing we recognize that people who register oti sites without policy seals may sacrifice their privacy

regarding the use of personal information. If a person wants the protection of a privacy seal, he or she

should know that certain minimum standards are met.” (Bowie and Jamal)
Elizabeth Casanova

The UK government has already taken steps to “regulate” the internet users in the country. In

the article “Internet Content Regulation: UK Government and the Control of Internet Content” by Yaman

Akdeniz the idea of illegal vs. harmful content is discussed. It is important to decipher the differences

between the two. “The difference between illegal and harmful content is that the former is criminalized

by national laws, while the latter is considered as offensive or disgusting by some people but certainly

not criminalized by national laws.” (Akdeniz) The article also discusses the steps being taken to ensure

illegal content is minimized.

Elizabeth Casanova

Work Cited:

Bowie, Norman E., and Karim Jamal. “Privacy Rights on the Internet: Self-Regulation or

Government Regulation?” Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 3, July 2006, pp. 323–

342, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-ethics-quarterly/article/privacy-rights-

on-the-internet-self-regulation-or-government-regulation/

82470263C7CB422ECC0A51FDB637A247, https://doi.org/10.5840/beq200616340.

Accessed 13 July 2023.

Akdeniz, Yaman. “Internet Content Regulation.” Computer Law & Security Review, vol. 17, no.

5, Sept. 2001, pp. 303–317, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0267-3649(01)00505-2. Accessed 12

July 2023.