Research proposal example

Why defending online privacy in digital age is so important Thesis In the modern digital age, people are being encouraged to share private information and broadcast it to the world. This private information is shared on social networks such as Google plus, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, among others. However, because the government is illegally mining this data, there is the need to defend people from intrusion by governments (Bamford 23). Without privacy, social networking sites that depend on open sharing would collapse, as people would withdraw from participating and sharing in them. The Internet thrives on trust and openness. If the two elements did not exist, people would rethink their participation. Therefore, considering the importance of sharing private information online in maintaining a vibrant Internet, there is need to defend people’s privacy and data that is online from government intrusion; this essay will, through presenting evidence from books and other sources, proof that violation of online privacy is a danger to technology companies, the internet, and peoples civil rights.
Research and evidence
In carrying out this research, I will rely on newspaper articles, expert views from lawyers and internet experts, books, and journal. I will rely on newspaper and magazine articles because the issue of government surveillance has become a hot topic since Edward Snowden released leaks about massive spying and illegal collection of data being carried out by American government. Internet experts and founders on large Internet companies will provide interesting perspective on online privacy. Books and journals will provide intellectual and philosophical view in the discussion of privacy. All materials used will be secondary and tertiary.
Arguments
Massive and illegal mining of personal data is a threat to the Internet. The Internet is based on openness and trust. When people share their personal data online, they do not expect the information will end up with the government or other third parties (Mears and Cohen 16). If they expect that would be the case, they would refuse to share it. On Facebook, people share personal data with their friends. That sharing creates trust and genuine engagement. Without people sharing personal information, social networking sites would lose their ability and keep people engaged online. This would signify the decline of social media. Another threat is the fledgling crowd services offered by Amazon web services, Google app engine, box, dropbox, and others. Foreign companies would fear keeping their data with American companies if American government would access it illegally. Data mining as the NSA is doing is a threat to American companies and the internet by extension (Herman 23).
Lack of online privacy will lead to breakup of the Internet. Internet is a massive highway of information. The NSA is using man-in-the-middle attack to collect data passing through the Internet. This suggests that government and other data miners in the industry whose main business is mining data and selling to companies can potentially retrieve any information posted online. Some governments fearing losing sensitive information about their operations are suggesting creating firewalls or disconnecting national internet from global Internet. This means that if the actions of NSA and other people contained, people would lose trust in the Internet and leading to its breakup (” How Your Data Are Being Deeply Mined.”). Breakup would hurt American internet companies because they are the dominant players on the internet.
Conclusion
In the research paper, I hope to demonstrate that illegal data mining as done by the NSA and other data miners is undermine the Internet and could cause its collapse. The gains from data mining are insignificant compared to the loss of trust and openness that make the Internet vibrant (Schneier 56).
Works Cited
Bamford, James. The shadow factory the ultra-secret NSA from 9/11 to the eavesdropping on America. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Print.
Herman, Susan N.. Taking liberties: the war on terror and the erosion of American democracy. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
” How Your Data Are Being Deeply Mined.” by Alice E. Marwick. N. p., n. d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014. .
Mears, Bill, and Tom Cohen. ” Judge: NSA domestic phone data-mining unconstitutional.” CNN. Cable News Network, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Schneier, Bruce. Schneier on security. Unabridged. ed. Hoboken, N. J.: Wiley, 2013. Print.