Lack of Privacy

Privacy and the internet are two luxuries that seem to be in clear conflict. Our readings and discussions about privacy on the internet makes me think of a story from a few summers ago back in Florida. A man was on trial for the murder of his wife in my town and the case became a national news story. It was a very strange case because, according to the man, he and his wife had been on the beach when someone mugged them at gunpoint, killing his wife and shooting him in the shoulder. The prosecutors, however, argued that the man either killed his wife himself and then shot himself, or that he hired someone to shoot both of them. The case was especially confounded because the man had taken out a very large life insurance policy on his wife only months before the incident. This story relates to our discussions about privacy because the deciding factor in the case, the evidence that led to the man’s conviction, was that an investigation of his internet history revealed that he had been researching gunshot wounds before the shooting. The prosecutors were able to convince the jury that he had planned the shooting and had been researching ways to survive the gunshot wound that he sustained either from himself or from another party. Now, I am not arguing that the man wasn’t guilty, and if he is guilty, then he got what he deserves. However, it seems iffy that a man’s internet history and the things he researches are admissible in court and could be the deciding factor for whether he spends the rest of his life in jail or not. Looking at phone logs and email history are somewhat understandable, even though many people argue that they are still an invasion of privacy. In most cases, I don’t think that the websites someone browses or the tv shows they download should be public property.