Someday soon, the whole universe of information about you – credit report, insurance records, medical history, you-name-it – may be recorded on a little smart card that fits in your wallet. Most important, computers assure that whatever information is out there is accessible. No more roaming door-to-door, file-to-file. A kid with a keyboard can get in to access your information. What’s more, because the information exists in cyberspace rather than real space, it can be “stolen” (copied) without your even knowing it.
Predictor: Alderman, Ellen
Prediction, in context:In their 1995 book “The Right to Privacy,” Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy write: ”As if we do not volunteer enough personal information already, new technology can generate more. Point-of-sale scanning at your grocery store can create a data profile revealing your taste in everything from soft drinks to supermarket tabloids. ‘Smart roads’ have toll booths that pick up radio signals from small electronic cards placed on windshields. Tolls are then deducted from the driver’s pre-paid account. You get to whiz through a toll booth without stopping, but there is also a record of where you were at a particular time. Advances in DNA research indicate that it is only a matter of time before a complete genetic profile can be created on each of us. A finding that you are genetically predisposed to a certain illness may be of great importance to you, but it may also be of interest to potential insurers, employers, even spouses or would-be spouses. And someday soon, the whole universe of information about you – credit report, insurance records, medical history, you-name-it – may be recorded on a little smart card that fits in your wallet. Most important, computers assure that whatever information is out there is accessible. No more roaming door-to-door, file-to-file. A kid with a keyboard can get in to access your information. What’s more, because the information exists in cyberspace rather than real space, it can be ‘stolen’ (copied) without your even knowing it.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: The Right to Privacy
Title, headline, chapter name: Privacy and Information
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 324
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney