Invasion of Privacy

Invasion of Privacy is a number of things. First of all, privacy is indeed a law, and one all citizens of the U.S. are entitled to.

Most of the time, invasion of privacy applies to celebrity and other public figures. Basically it represents their freedom from excessive media intrusion into their lives, and are often represented in celebrity libel cases. These often have to do with celebrities being portrayed in a negative or untrue manner, and unfortunately, often fail. The celebrities file them, but the rarely win, since it is just seen as a way of life to be stalked as a prominent public figure.

As an average citizen though, do not think these laws don’t apply to you. You have every right to privacy that these A-listers do as well. Some may think “why even bother? My privacy isn’t being invaded…” This may be true; surely you are not finding slander about John Doe on the front of People magazine, but that is not to say you are being invaded in other ways.

For example, everyone uses the Internet. Let’s say that somebody hacked into your Internet communications and stole your browsing history, and began to blackmail you with it. They might threaten to inform spouses or perhaps co-workers. This is a prime example of invasion of privacy.

While this may seem a bit far-fetched to some, these things definitely happen on a regular basis. It doesn’t even have to be slandering in nature, it could be simple old theft. If someone were to intercept your Internet communications and figure out your credit card numbers and throw a big party, with you unknowingly footing the bill, this is also invasion, but with theft on top.

All sorts of information can be stolen online. There are many kids prosecuted each year over what they think is a funny practical joke. They will go on social networking websites, and using pictures they acquired online, will create satirical profiles and pose as some public figure to haze them. (often their hated teachers or principal) While the kids may think of this as innocent shenanigans, people who see the profile might think that it actually belongs to the innocent subject, and some could lose their job over it. There have been cases where kids will create profiles for teachers and accuse them of being drug addicts, and the upon reviewing by administrative staff, the teacher will be wrongfully fired. The oppressed pedagogic instructor will head to court to get the laughing kids who perpetrated the crime, but won’t laughing when they are up for invasion of privacy as adults. Oftentimes you hear about identity thieves. Although this is a separate crime, it also falls into the same category as invasion of privacy.

Although invasion of privacy happens often online, it can carry over to the tangible world as well. Your computer has a nametag, called an IP address, which is shown to every website you visit.  This virtual nametag shows you browsing history, can be a portal to your hard drive, and most ominous, shows your location. By doing a simple Google search of your public IP address, anyone can figure out where you live and exactly where your transmissions are coming from. If someone were to use this information to figure out where you lived, and  surreptitiously gained access to your online messages to figure out when you’d be gone to rob your house, this would be the most serious invasion of privacy possible.

There are ways to protect yourself. Using an anonymous proxy server will secure your Internet privacy. These programs will change your IP address and ensure that no one will track your signal back to your house, and the anonymizer will hide your identity. These days, with so many people on the Internet, criminals will go to any lengths to tap this huge resource. Oftentimes, it isn’t even criminals doing the dirty deeds! Perhaps it is just a nosy neighbor, hoping to dig up dirt about your past and make you seem like a crook to the rest of the neighborhood. The bottom line is, this is not just a domestic battle, these people are breaking the law. Don’t allow them the opportunity; secure your Internet privacy today, and never have to worry about someone tracking your IP and paying you an unexpected visit.

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