THE BROKEN SOCIAL CONTRACT: PRIVACY IN AN AGE OF INCOMPETENT POWER

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Having the government invade people’s privacy in the name of security is something unacceptable to me. The government has already done a lot for people in the name of power and the good of the people, overusing its rights against the citizens. I have seen a film where a scenario is presented where the government is in charge of everything, and the people are not happy with their living conditions. There is something worse than crime, which is the government's invasion of people's privacy, having to hear every conversation of people and to watch their every move.

There has to be a limit to everything. When we give up our privacy rights, we give up a delicate part of our freedom. There is an extent to which the government could keep us safe, rather than putting its energy into hearing every little detail of its citizens' conversations. People will not feel safer if the government is listening to all its conversation, sometimes, the government might be the problem, and in such a situation, how then can one feel safe when they are all in their private conversations?

A country like mine, for instance, where crime has taken over territories it is not supposed to take over since we have a government. Where there is always news of this insurgency, kidnapping, and all sorts of crimes that shouldn’t be happening in a country with a well-trained security force. How then do we trust that the government will make good use of our privacy if we let them invade it? Where the government will make such a demand of total transparency with its citizens, the government should have some sort of transparency too and should be effective as well as efficient in performing its roles to its citizens.

Giving the government our privacy will keep us very vulnerable, making us not to live freely any longer, and checking our every move, even when we are not criminally inclined, we will tend to do everything with caution. This will make the cost of our security too heavy to bear, making the opportunity cost of being secured our freedoms, even in our private homes and private conversations. Having the government know everything about us without us knowing everything about the government will give the government some sort of control over our lives rather than making us have a certain level of social contract with the government.

Aside from not being comfortable with the government hearing every one of my conversations, it will be a waste of public funds for the government to put in resources to monitor every one of its citizens, the law-abiding and the lawbreakers, rather, physical security and policing will be a better use of these funds.

In the wrong hands, our private conversations can be twisted and used against anyone the government deems fit. It will be difficult for us, the citizens, to hold a failing government when we have no way to host private gatherings to talk about what concerns us about our government.

Thank you for reading. My name is@rishagamo, and this is my response to the Hive Learners weekly Featured Content Week 212 Episode 01: “PRIVACY OR SECURITY”.