Privacy in 2020:

PCs with a mandatory static IP address.

Every car outfitted with a working transponder.

A penniless marketplace where every purchase and financial transaction is electronically tracked.

Mandatory MySpace pages that every citizen will be required to maintain with up-to-date contact information.

These are some of the practices that Robert Gellman, a privacy and information practices consultant in Washington, DC, says will be commonplace in 2020. Gellman makes other predictions about our Winston Smith future as well.

He says biometrics and other authentication systems will be a standard feature on all computers in the next decade, requiring individuals to identify themselves before a computer will work. All e-mail and logs of network and search activity will be stored permanently. And health insurance companies will soon require policyholders to submit to food purchase monitoring in an effort to control healthcare costs. The latter, Gellman says, will lead to a black market in under-the-table junkfood sales.

Hmm. Might the food monitoring begin this way?

Have some predictions of your own? Send 'em in.

Photo: PodBrix

See Also:

• TorrentSpy Case Shows Privacy Policies and Practices Protect ...
• Google Fails Privacy Study, Criticizes Watchdog Group
• Search Engine Privacy Changes Driven by Competion, Lawmakers ...
• California Police Camera Surveillance Increasing
• Maybe surveillance is bad, after all

(Read Original Article - Via Threat Level.)