There are always these trade-offs between what’s useful and what could be done to us. The benefits to be had are so great; we just have to be sure that the people who are in control respect our privacy.
Predictor: Want, Roy
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Wired magazine, John Whalen does a bit of surveillance at the American Society for Industrial Security’s annual convention, and quotes Roy Want, an inventor of ‘active badges,’ and a scientist at Xerox PARC. Whalen writes: ”Cell phones made it possible for L.A.’s finest to triangulate on O.J. Simpson during his slo-mo odyssey along the Disneyland freeway. And any time you use a credit card or make a long-distance phone call, you’re essentially leaving a trail of virtual bread crumbs for the telcos, Visa, and law enforcers. ‘There are always these trade-offs between what’s useful and what could be done to us,’ says Want from the belly of the kinder, gentler Panopticon. ‘The benefits to be had are so great; we just have to be sure that the people who are in control respect our privacy.'”
Biography:Roy Want, a scientist at Xerox PARC, was an inventor of “active badge” technology that allows a person or things movements to be followed and monitored. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: You’re Not Paranoid: They Really Are Watching You: Surveillance in the Workplace is Getting Digitized – and Getting Worse
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.03/security_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney