Should Australians Worry About Internet Privacy?

Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, had earlier leaked information about PRISM, a highly sensitive issue commonly known as global spying program. This was a bombshell that shocked the country after the revelation that the U.S. government had installed a global spying system, which can burrow deep an individual's web activities through social media platforms and email exchange.

As a result, many questions about the new system's policies and their limitations were raised like how freely does the U.S. share this information with regard to its allies, specifically Australia? How can the government know if it already considered gross invasion of privacy? How much do they know about an individual's browser history?

In an interview with ABC, Andy Start, president of global government business for Inmarsat, said with the advancements in today's technology, it is quite possible that Internet privacy may go the way of the dial-up connection, that is extinct and irrelevant. The only way to have a confidential conversation with someone else is face-to-face. There is no guarantee as to who sees what when you are online. Start also pointed out that people should not be surprised during phone and online conversations being intercepted as this technology has been in place for years. "It's true to say that you shouldn't be doing anything in cyberspace that you wouldn't do in public. If you're ashamed to do it in front of your grandma, you probably don't want to do it on the Internet," he said.

Although this may seem a terrible news, it is important to understand that developing spyware is a crucial component of national security. He cited there is a phenomenal collaboration among governments regarding the accumulation of information as to who is looking the collected data. As long as there is global insecurity in terms of terrorism and the like, people should be wary of sharing too much online.