Our Right to Privacy: Is it Protected on the Internet?

According to Supreme Court Justice, Louis Brandeis, we have a constitutional right to privacy. This basically means we have the "right to be left alone" (See Right to Privacy). But when Justice Brandeis wrote these words, I do not believe that he could have conceived what they would mean in the context of the Internet. When we join in communication over the world wide web, do we have a right to privacy over our personal data and speech? Or, by sending this information out into the stratosphere, do we release all expectations and rights to privacy?

Most of us are completely unaware that we have lost privacy to our personal data. In fact, the business model upon which most of the Internet sites that we use is not actually compatible with privacy, as they need to discover our spending habits in order to optimize ad revenue. Additionally, only "12.5% of US retailers protect customers from fraudulent emails" (See #Privacy). This leaves customers open to cyber crimes and theft. The number of hacking and phishing instances seems to increase everyday. The Internet is simply not a safe place, though it is deceiving because we cannot see our predators. Furthermore, unless encrypted by new technology such as Proton Mail, our emails are also not protected and can be viewed by people other than our intended receivers. So, this leaves us with a dilemma as it appears that our right to freedom of expression may not sync in today's world of technology with our right to privacy.

By engaging on the Internet, we are not implicitly consenting to abandoning our right to privacy. We need to protect our rights, our personal lives, our personal stories. We still have a constitutional right to be left alone....