Private i’s Leave Not-so Private Imprints

Social media users and digital marketingprofessionals spend the better part of their days and nights peering into iPhones, iPads, and other digital devices without realizing said iTems are peering back at them. That’s why politicians and digital media experts went public on privacy issues in the digital age with the following quotes.


“The Fourth Amendment is quite clear on the notion that search and seizure must not be unreasonable. It is difficult to think of something more unreasonable than searching the private phone records and digital information of citizens who are suspected of nothing.” – Ben Shapiro

“Unwarranted search and seizure by the government officials was unacceptable to the American revolutionaries. Shouldn’t it be unacceptable in the digital age, too?” – Heather Brooke

“In the U.S., we are free to speak our minds and to spend money without being forced to reveal our identities—except when using the Web. Browsing the Web leaves digital tracks everywhere in the form of log files, and anyone who hosts a Website can be easily traced.” – Jamais Cascio

“Historically, privacy was almost implicit, because it was hard to find and gather information. But in the digital world, whether it’s digital cameras or satellites or just what you click on, we need to have more explicit rules—not just for governments but for private companies.” – Bill Gates

“We all have personal brands and most of us have already left a digital footprint, whether we like it or not. Proper social media use highlights your strengths that may not shine through in an interview or application and gives the world a broader view of who you are. Use it wisely.” – Amy Jo Martin

“Google’s screen for privacy settings does give you more options for what you share than Apple’s does. But it’s not a complete list, and people aren’t aware of whether or not that information will go to a third party.” – Al Franken

“Everything we do in the digital realm—from surfing the Web to sending an email to conducting a credit card transaction to, yes, making a phone call—creates a data trail. And if that trail exists, chances are someone is using it—or will be soon enough.” – Douglas Rushkoff

“A smartphone links patients’ bodies and doctors’ computers, which in turn are connected to the Internet, which in turn is connected to any smartphone anywhere. The new devices could put the management of an individual’s internal organs in the hands of every hacker, online scammer, and digital vandal on Earth.” – Charles C. Mann

“Surveillance technologies now available—including the monitoring of virtually all digital information—have advanced to the point where much of the essential apparatus of a police state is already in place.” – Al Gore

“Whether greater cyber security requires a greater sacrifice of our digital freedoms is an important debate that we should be having, preferably with all the facts in front of us.” – Evgeny Morozov