Preparing a rational argument on Privacy

               For my English class, I am required to write a rational argument on a topic of my choosing. I have chosen to title my paper Privacy, the present and future, and does it matter? For this project, I have been heavily researching how our privacy is being invaded, why it is happening, what the future will hold, and why many people just don’t care.

               Privacy, as defined by Merriam-Webster is the quality or state of being apart from company or observation and the freedom from unauthorized intrusion. While we might all understand the basic concept of what privacy is, many people do not realize or have ceased to care about how often our privacy is without our knowledge or consent, taken away from us. It is vital the privacy of the public is taken into consideration and that we take a closer look at how our data is being used.

               In the modern-day more than ever, our data has become increasingly valuable to many different groups for many reasons but probably most importantly for advertising. The more information that companies can collect and store about their users, the more relevant ads can be served, resulting in more clicks and money for the website displaying the ad. One of the most notable and obvious places where this is used is by Facebook (now Meta) where they collect huge amounts of data that we willingly give out by posting or by collecting it off of our phones or connected accounts without our knowledge.

               I will be continuing to research and write more about this interesting topic over the coming weeks. This will be done by reading academic articles and official documents in order to get the most accurate data to present in my rational argument.