The CIA Forsees Ubiquitous Computing

Filed in archive Privacy and Security , Ubiquitous Computing on March 19, 2005

Did you know that the CIA forsees a time when ubiquitous computing will be part of the fabric of our lives?

A report by the CIA (yes, that CIA -- the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency), outlines a range of possibilities for where technology will evolve to by the year 2015.

This interesting little chart excerpt shows that pervasive sensors (including RFID) and ubiquitous computing figure heavily into the report's predictions of future scenarios:




Note also that the report says one outgrowth is likely to be reduced privacy:

"Various threats to individual privacy include pervasive sensors, DNA 'fingerprinting,' genetic profiles that indicate disease predispositions, Internet-accessible databases of personal information, and other information technology threats.

Privacy issues will likely result in legislative debates concerning legal protections and regulations, continued social and ethical debates about technology uses, the generation of privacy requirements and markets, and privacy-supporting technologies (e.g., security measures and components in sensory and information architectures and components). The timeliness, pervasiveness, and rationality of privacy concerns may dictate whether privacy issues are addressed in proactive or reactive ways. In recent history, however, privacy and security have taken a back seat to functionality and performance. It is unlikely that privacy concerns will halt these technology trends, resulting in reducing privacy across the globe in measure with the amount of technology in a region. Scrutiny of privacy issues, however, may change public behavior in how it uses technology and may influence technological development by highlighting privacy as a social demand."

I think the report is right in saying that privacy concerns will not stop technology. After all, we've been subject to Internet databases of our private information in the hands of credit card companies for years. The vast majority of people never squawk about this, even in the wake of highly publicized examples of our private data being stolen.