04/12/05

The whirlwind advance of seamless communications technology could allow individuals to be monitored constantly within the next 15 years, according to a study conducted by the Australian Communications Authority. People will increasingly have to provide personal information to use services, phone numbers would be less relevant and some will take 'information holidays' in a society of 'ubiquitous communications' that could develop by 2020, according to the report -- Vision 20/20: Future Scenarios for the Communications Industry. The study suggests a range of possible scenarios, starting from a positive vision of a consumer society continually connected to vast layers of information, able to dip in almost at will. But it also considers a darker future, in which some feel threatened by an explosion in the ability to keep large databases of personal information and where computer networks are poorly integrated, raising difficulties in making electronic payments...

http://tinyurl.com/487nl

from Sydney Morning Herald [Australia]


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp