A recent article published by the Wall Street Journal
discusses expected security threats to states, businesses, and individuals as a
result of the persistent development of technology. The article considers what may occur when
technology is placed in the wrong hands.
A few of the suggested threats include biological warfare, hacking, and
drones. For example, as drones become
more available to the public they could be used inappropriately for spying
purposes or new scientific developments could assist individuals in developing
diseases and exposing them to the public.
These examples seem pretty drastic and may sound like they came right
out of a NBC TV show, but they are perfectly possible considering the invasive
practices that already occur with our current technology.
I think with new technology will come great debates about
the role of the government. We already
live in an era where privacy doesn’t necessarily mean what it used to. We choose to sacrifice certain elements of
privacy in exchange for protection, but does transparency mean safety? How much
is too much? What does privacy mean to a person in 2015?
It’s interesting to see how these technologies have already
affected U.S. security. For instance, the current drone policy as a counterterrorism strategy has been controversial
due to questions of legality and civilian deaths. There is no doubt that the use of drones
decreases U.S. military casualties, however as a long term solution it is
insufficient. One negative affect of this policy is increased
anti-American sentiment and contribution to recruitment for terrorist
organizations in the Middle East as a result of civilian deaths. So it would seem that terrorists are being
replaced as quickly as they are being taken out, and at the expense of
hundreds, perhaps thousands of civilians.
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