Information about all of us is now collected not only by the old standbys, the IRS and FBI, but also by the MVB, MIB, NCOA, and NCIC, as well as credit bureaus, credit unions, and credit card companies. We now have cellular phones, which are different from cordless phones, which are different from what we used to think of as phones. We worry about e-mail, voice mail, and junk mail. And something with the perky name Clipper Chip – developed specifically to allow government eavesdropping on coded electronic communications – is apparently the biggest threat of all.
Predictor: Alderman, Ellen
Prediction, in context:In their 1995 book “The Right to Privacy,” authors Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy write: ”Perhaps the scariest threat to privacy comes in the area known as ‘informational privacy.’ Information about all of us is now collected not only by the old standbys, the IRS and FBI, but also by the MVB, MIB, NCOA, and NCIC, as well as credit bureaus, credit unions, and credit card companies. We now have cellular phones, which are different from cordless phones, which are different from what we used to think of as phones. We worry about e-mail, voice mail, and junk mail. And something with the perky name Clipper Chip – developed specifically to allow government eavesdropping on coded electronic communications – is apparently the biggest threat of all.”
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 323
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney