Do Criminals Deserve Privacy?

In September 2008, the government of South Korea allowed the Ministry of Justice to place electronic anklets on criminals’ ankles, once the criminals finish their terms in the jail. The electronic anklets track the exact location of the criminals at all times in order to reduce the probability of their second convictions of crimes. The Ministry of Justice is now trying to expand the use of this tracking device to drug traffickers and criminal suspects. Privacy advocates argue for the privacy issues of this Real-Time Locating Service (RTLS) device. They argue that not only the criminals’, but also their family’s privacy is being violated by this device. However, the Ministry of Justice asserts that the number of second convictions significantly diminished after the electronic anklet is introduced.

How far is technology interfering with people's privacy? To crimainals deserve privacy? Of course the electronic anklets will reduce the number of crimes, but it is imprisoning criminals in another form of jail for the rest of their lives. How do you measure the cost of losing the freedom? We believe that expanding the use of this devise will expose the entire country to a new level of government scrutiny of people's lives. This tracking device can be re-created and may interfere our lives in a different form. Technology facilitates many aspects of people’s lives. Therefore, we open our doors and generously welcome technology to come into our private spaces at all times. However, do we know when to close our doors?