Ethical Assigment: Some ideas on property.

READING and ASSIGNMENT: Some ideas on property

+++The chosen quote:

John Locke (17th century, England)

“Though the Earth, and all inferior Creatures be common to all Men, yet every Man has a Property in his own Person. This nobody has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the State that Nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his Labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his Property. It being by him removed from the common state Nature placed it in, hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other Men. For this Labour being the unquestionable Property of the Labourer, no Man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good left in common for others.”

(Chapter 5, Section 27, Second Treatise on Government)

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s3.html

++ Summarize what you think the quote says.

I think that this quote encompasses a definition of property from a  democratic point of view. In my opinion, it is fair and logical to define property from this point of view because it embraces communal values and at the same time it sets parameters to protect individuality. These two are very important values (communal values and individuality) in any civilized society in order to attain peaceful coexistence among citizens, and also so that everybody can live in equality and with freedom. Furthermore, the author intertwines the concept of property and privacy: “every Man has a Property in his own Person. This nobody has any Right to but himself “; this is a very important connection because privacy is part of the concept of property.

++ Find a case or situation that you think relates to property in the context of IT security and/or ethical hacking.  Find a link related to the case (news story, wikipedia article, etc.) and link to it in your blog post.

Situation: “US Senate votes 50-48 to do away with broadband privacy rules; let ISPs and telecoms to sell your internet history”.

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2017/03/us-senate-votes-50-48-away-broadband-privacy-rules-let-isps-telecoms-sell-internet-history/

++ Apply the ideas from the quote you chose to the case you found.  What would (Aristotle, Senghor, Marx, etc.) say about the situation you found?  What do you think about the situation you found?

Based on the connection between privacy and property made by John Locke in the chosen quote, he would oppose the dismantling of our privacy by our representatives in Congress. He would be very critical of these representatives’ actions and after careful analysis, he would conclude that they do not care at all about what citizen are entitled to according to our Constitution and many very important International Laws such the Declaration of Human Rights, signed by most democracies around the world. Elaborating from my point of view about why philosopher John Locke would have this position regarding this situation, I believe that according to his analysis of property, the data that I am producing through the use of a device which belongs to me and also using a service that I am paying for, should be considered part of my property because this is a creation by myself as an individual. Although it might not be an intentional creation, this data has been produced by my intellect and it contains specific traits that are a product of my individuality, hence this is part of my property and it should not be used without my authorization. Furthermore, if a third party is profiting from this data which is my property then I should receive a fair share of such profit.