Editor’s Note: Looking to bring a younger perspective to the mobile space, RCR Wireless News’ has tapped Jeff Hawn to provide insight into what’s on the minds of the tech-savvy youth of today.
Newton’s Third Law dictates that for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction. The same can be said for the recent revelations regarding the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping dragnet. In light of the Snowden leaks, and the realization that the U.S. government has been eavesdropping on its citizens and foreign nationals on a massive scale, Apple and Google have rolled out new lines of operating systems for smartphones. These new systems encrypt the user’s information, making it harder to access without inputting the proper password, even with a warrant. Privacy advocates have cheered and law enforcement has issued a collective groan. Accessing people’s phones is about to become very difficult and an increasingly privacy-sensitive consumer base will see Apple and Google’s profits from these encrypted phones grow exponentially.
But it is also realistic to find the entire issue remarkably ludicrous. The millennial generation would seem to care less about privacy than any in history, between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Skype and the other electronic means we can find to broadcast our life 24/7. Yet, the under-30 crowd that grew up broadcasting their lives on the Internet are leading the charge toward privacy by vocally demanding that their beloved smartphones be shielded from such governmental intrusions. Why would a generation that seemingly disregards any sense of privacy suddenly want more?
As stated earlier, with every action there is an opposite reaction. Those who came of age with voyeuristic technology were perhaps not fully cognizant of the long-term effects of posting everything about oneself on the Web where it would stay … perhaps forever. Facebook and Twitter are after all only about a decade old, founded in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Today’s new college graduate was in middle school in 2004, and in 2006 just starting high school. Many of the most avid social media users were at a similar level in their development and barely understood long-term consequences, let alone the idea of creating a public record of our private thoughts and personal photos.
As the Facebook generation has matured so has its use of technology. Millennials are still OK broadcasting their lives, provided they are the ones who choose to broadcast it. The idea of an Orwellian-like government snooping on us at will is a little too intrusive even by their low standards. Some see the long-term harm the new phone operating systems could cause. Crime and terrorism are evolving to thrive in a globalized world, and these new systems could allow criminals and conspiracists to operate more securely. This is why it could be deemed reasonable to oppose encrypting phones, but those who do are clearly in the minority.
Time magazine has after all declared the millennial generation to be the “Me Me Me” generation, and if the new OS will keep them secure against intrusion, why should they care if it causes law enforcement difficulty elsewhere? There is a balance to be struck between government surveillance and civil liberties, and the state can keep its citizens secure without overreaching.
But ours is a world of absolutes and the majority has said no to Big Brother. If one listens closely from Kabul to Bogotá, you can hear the bad guys cheering. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction; in this case, the reaction of making global crime easier and more secure will be a problem with which the millennial generation will have to grapple with one day.
Jeff Hawn was born in 1991 and represents the “millennial generation,” the people who have spent their entire lives wired and wireless. His adult life has revolved around cellphones, the Internet, video chat and Google. Hawn has a degree in international relations from American University, and has lived and traveled extensively throughout Europe and Russia. He represents the most valuable, but most discerning, market for wireless companies: the people who have never lived without their products, but are fickle and flighty in their loyalty to one company or product. He’ll be sharing his views – and to a certain extent the views of his generation – with RCR Wireless News readers, hoping to bridge the generational divide and let the decision makers know what’s on the mind of this demographic.
