USA Today reports on predictions for the world in 2050, including predictions about the state of privacy:

Information overload. Power shifts. Rate of change. Digital revolution. Knowledge age. It has been 40 years since Alvin Toffler popularized the terms in his jolting portrait of things to come in the landmark book Future Shock. Six million copies have sold, and the phrases from it now are part of the lexicon. If future shock is now, what does the future hold?

Today, Toffler Associates releases “40 For The Next 40” — trends it says will shape our world from now to 2050. What the changes could bring: […]

• Technology. Rapid access to specialists across the globe. Successful organizations will link “answer seekers” and “problem solvers.” Chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and meteorological sensors will be part of everyday devices such as cellphones. Mass production will be replaced by on-demand, custom manufacturing. Invasion of privacy will spread — the result of cheaper, smaller and widely available surveillance devices. Data may be collected faster than it can be analyzed, resulting in “cyberdust.”

• Social ways. Consumers will be the most important source of innovation. Social networks will gain influence. […]

How many of the Tofflers’ warnings have been realized?

“Look at the arguments we’re having about border control, privacy,” [Deborah Westphal, managing partner of Toffler Associates,] says. “We’re trying to solve these problems. … The shock is still occurring.”

This entry was posted on Friday, October 15th, 2010 and is filed under Anonymity, Civil liberties, First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Identification, Security, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.