I can imagine proposals that every automobile, including yours and mine, be outfitted with a recorder but also with a transmitter that identifies the car and its location – a future license plate. After all, airplanes have “black box” recorders today, and once the cost drops, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be in our cars. If a car was reported stolen, its location would be known immediately. After a hit-and-run accident or a drive-by shooting, a judge could authorize a query: “What vehicles were in the following two-block area during this 30-minute period?” The black box could record your speed and location, which would allow for the perfect enforcement of speeding laws. I would vote against that.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes: ”I can imagine proposals that every automobile, including yours and mine, be outfitted with a recorder but also with a transmitter that identifies the car and its location – a future license plate. After all, airplanes have ‘black box’ recorders today, and once the cost drops, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be in our cards. If a car was reported stolen, its location would be known immediately. After a hit-and-run accident or a drive-by shooting, a judge could authorize a query: ‘What vehicles were in the following two-block area during this 30-minute period?’ The black box could record your speed and location, which would allow for the perfect enforcement of speeding laws. I would vote against that.”
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 12: Critical Issues
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 268, 269
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne