Google recently acquired Nest Labs, a company that has developed internet-connected thermostats and smoke detectors that can program themselves and communicate with your smart phone. These devices can monitor what’s going on in our homes. They can see when we wake up, when we leave for work, and when we return to our homes at night. For example, the thermostat has a motion sensor that activates the screen and changes temperature settings when it registers a person walking past it. At first, it seems like wonderful technology, but soon raises concerns about privacy and security to individuals and businesses. Many are worried about what Google could potentially do with the information stored by Nest products. They say their intentions are only good. Using customer information will only help to improve their services and products. It will provide a full picture of its users and could be vital to their advertising. In other word, they can deliver products we’ll like if they can see into our everyday life and habits. I am a firm believer in privacy. I believe a company that installs these devices and collects data from them definitely invades an individual’s privacy. Just because they have the tools to invade our privacy doesn’t make it right. They should not be able to know every aspect of our lives. They should not be able to watch us and learn our patterns. I think that society and its institutions ultimately corrupt the purity of the individual, and that a person is at their best when truly independent and self-reliant (Goodreads/Emerson). Individualism and personal privacy is of utmost importance and should be put ahead of the needs of society. Where are the rights of the individual? Google is trying to convince us that our privacy policies are going to be well respected, but in the future there could be reasons why it might make sense to tie it to our Google accounts. The sensitive information obtained could end up in the ha