Defend privacy — before it’s gone

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Updated: November 10, 2011 11:47AM

This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether police — without warrants — can surreptitiously put GPS devices on people’s cars and record their movements for weeks at a time. Do you want police to know that much about you — who you visit, which doctor you see, where you unwind after work?

Last week, it was learned that names and diagnosis codes of 20,000 patients at Stanford Hospital of California had been posted for nearly a year on a commercial website — the latest in a long string of data breaches. Do you want the world to know your medical diagnoses, Social Security number or other personal data?

Facial-recognition technology is now available that in theory can scan the Web and identify people in photos. Do you want someone to be able to take your picture on the street and then easily go to a computer to find out who you are?

These are just some of the ways that our anonymity — the ability to be lost in a crowd — is disappearing as street cameras record our movements, software monitors what we do on computers, highway toll booths and smartphones track our travels and giant server farms build lasting libraries of our electronic musings.

The digitization of data has many benefits, not the least of which is helping authorities prevent or solve crimes. But it’s important for citizens to speak up to prevent a loss of privacy before no privacy becomes standard practice.

Some states have enacted laws barring the use of electronic tracking devices without warrants. The Geolocation and Surveillance Act pending in Congress would give guidelines on using geolocation.

But the dizzying pace of technological development means none of us can ignore new electronic tools. We must speak up in public to protect what we do in private.