Running head: I KNOW WHAT YOU DID YESTERDAY

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Final Paper I Know What You Did Yesterday Ronnie Brown Ashford University English Composition II Professor Kimberly Muirhead June 3, 2013

Running head: I KNOW WHAT YOU DID YESTERDAY I Know What You Did Yesterday

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Is privacy in the 21st century possible? This topic sparked my curiosity and discovery of why we as humans now have a unique and vulnerable habit of surrendering our personal lives to a registered number of sorts. Rather through a grocery registration card, a mobile phone number, a home internet connection, a health care provider wellness insurance registration, or simply Costco membership. Our privacy as humans is actually an oxymoron. In this paper my research and discovery will allow me to develop this theory and provide critical research that supports my claim that all data is not equal nor is it collected for the development of the American family. This paper will also highlight the unique proposed purpose for store loyalty cards and data collection.
Data privacy in the 21st century is an oxymoron; almost unheard of. Exploring how we as humans are monitored, studied and examined for various purposes and profits is a full time job and happening more frequently in 2013. The question, “Is privacy in the 21st century possible” has given me reason to research several ways in which we as humans voluntarily surrender our everyday lives to the study and profit of our habits, hobbies, purchases, entertainment and employment, thus allowing me to narrow down my researched topic. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) whose purpose is to: Focus public attention on emerging privacy and civil liberties states that the finally the President of United States has issued an Executive Order, outlining the White House and Administration new “Open Data Policy” (White House Launches Open Data Project, 1994) Under this new policy the goal would be to make information “accessible, "accessible, discoverable, and usable by the public" and to "promote interoperability and openness." (White House Launches Open Data Project, 1994) My thought for this great leap of faith is that it will never happen and that this is just a theatrical gesture to insult the American public intelligence to dissect a lie.

Running head: I KNOW WHAT YOU DID YESTERDAY

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According to I. Rubinstein of NYU, Personal data also known as “Big Data” refers to novel ways in which organizations, including government and businesses, combine diverse digital datasets and then use statistics and other data mining techniques to extract from them both hidden information and surprising correlations. While Big Data promises significant economic and social benefits, it also raises serious privacy concerns. Personal data (2012, Online) means e data in conjunction with other information that is in, or is likely to come into, the possession of the data controller”. This invasion of privacy is warranted and scrutinized, however due to the consumer market our generations of shoppers, based on a company’s data research proves that we as every day people survive because of the shared savings warehouse stores are able to offer as a trade off. The result is a changing consumer universe in which customers increasingly are asked to make an Information Age trade-off, thus opening themselves to a vulnerable state of invasion to their everyday life. From the outside looking in, the simple plastic card that offers a discount for a multiple of purchases seems harmless and more often than not, it is a harmless purchase. Even purchases as apparently regular necessities such as groceries can provide clues about one's health, drinking habits, income and self-image. Whether this corporate effort leads to a dangerous erosion of consumer privacy or something more benign is a question that divides some consumers, if they're even aware of what's going on. According to Safeway CEO Steve Burd,