As a futurist I often feel as though I live in a déjà- vu world. I write about something and then months or years later it occurs or becomes something that is on the minds of a lot of people.

This is the first of what may be occasional columns from years past written here that, for one reason or another, are relevant to what is currently going on in the world.  As a futurist I try to write “ahead of the curve” or to take a “future look at today”. Sometimes old columns resonate today.  This is one of them.

The recent – and ongoing – flap about privacy settings on Facebook is just the latest incident that makes us think about our privacy in this age of connectivity and social media.  When we are confronted with this issue, predictably we seem to recoil and speak about invasion of privacy.  We get upset that our personal data is or could be shared with people we don’t know.

Facebook, with  almost too numerous to count privacy settings, is clearly a conflicted company when it comes to privacy.  It has a culture, purpose and business model that is completely about sharing, or sharing completely.  A complete surrender of privacy is the ideal.

To focus on Facebook and other social media as a place of concern for privacy is myopic.  We all long ago gave up privacy for the sake of convenience.  In the larger scheme of things we have willingly, if not fully consciously, ...]]>

As a futurist I often feel as though I live in a déjà- vu world. I write about something and then months or years later it occurs or becomes something that is on the minds of a lot of people.

This is the first of what may be occasional columns from years past written here that, for one reason or another, are relevant to what is currently going on in the world.  As a futurist I try to write “ahead of the curve” or to take a “future look at today”. Sometimes old columns resonate today.  This is one of them.

The recent – and ongoing – flap about privacy settings on Facebook is just the latest incident that makes us think about our privacy in this age of connectivity and social media.  When we are confronted with this issue, predictably we seem to recoil and speak about invasion of privacy.  We get upset that our personal data is or could be shared with people we don’t know.

Facebook, with  almost too numerous to count privacy settings, is clearly a conflicted company when it comes to privacy.  It has a culture, purpose and business model that is completely about sharing, or sharing completely.  A complete surrender of privacy is the ideal.

To focus on Facebook and other social media as a place of concern for privacy is myopic.  We all long ago gave up privacy for the sake of convenience.  In the larger scheme of things we have willingly, if not fully consciously, given up our privacy over the past few decades.

The recent privacy flap at Facebook has caused many people in audiences I address to ask about privacy as it relates to social media.  I end up referring to a column I wrote almost four years ago and simply say:  “As technology advances, privacy declines”

Below is that slightly tongue in cheek column, written in 2006.

Technology Advances, Privacy Declines

One of the trade offs we seem to have accepted during the past 20 years is a loss of privacy.  None of us say we approve of that, but we have embraced technology in such a way that a diminished sense of privacy has occurred.  The portability of storage and computing, as discussed on this blog in earlier posts, is a major reason.  The easier small storage devices and laptops are to carry, the higher probability of theft.

It was revealed the other day that a laptop, with personnel records for 382,000 Boeing employees was stolen.  This was the third time in 13 months that this has occurred with Boeing.  Of course Boeing is not the only company where this has happened.  Laptops are portable and easy to put into a briefcase or bag.  Someone goes up for another cup of coffee at Starbucks or leaves their desk to go to the bathroom and in a few seconds the laptop and all the data on it is stolen.  We all enjoy the fact that we can have a computer with us wherever we are.  The freedom to work wherever and whenever we want is a very empowering thing, something that didn’t exist 20 years ago.

In the 1960s and 1970s, computing equaled mainframe computing.  Companies and universities all had these large machines that were in air conditioned, controlled access environments.  Access was highly monitored, records were kept for all activities and people even dressed in white coats.  It looked and felt like the religion of the main frame.  Yes, you could probably steal a computer tape, but you would have to have another main frame computer to access the data.  This is so different than today when every desk has a PC and laptops are everywhere.

The other key development of course is the Internet and the fact that all these computers are connecting to it.  This connectivity allows remote access from practically anywhere.  Firewalls become challenges to hackers.  Identities stolen from computers via the Internet can be almost instantaneously monetized.  It seems like every day there is an article or story in the media about identity theft.  So our highly connected lives open us up to risk.  This also opens us up to tracking.  What web sites we visit on the Internet.  What we buy.  Who we communicate with and what we say.  Of course, now with massive use of wireless we have grown accustomed to using public wireless hot spots for our most personal communications and transactions.  We learned a decade ago that cell phones were less secure than land lines, yet that certainly didn’t compel us to stop using them.  In fact, cell phone usage has exploded.

Entire new security businesses such as consumer virus protection software, and security gurus have emerged to help companies protect their data and confidential information.  We all want to be connected and protected at the same time.  If you truly want to keep your communications private, think back on all the mafia movies you have seen.  To avoid being bugged at home or at the office, or being wiretapped via the phone, mafia dons would meet on a park bench or take a walk on a construction site to discuss ‘business’.  Once you move to most electronic communications you increase the risk of intrusion, observation or theft.  Hey, what’s so bad about sitting on a park bench on a sunny day?

Last week I wrote about being pleasantly surprised by a short speaking tour of Saskatchewan.  In every other place I have visited in the past three months there has been extreme pessimism and concern about this Great Recession of 2008-2010/11.  In last week’s column I described how three different groups of CEOs, business owners and senior company executives were upbeat about the economic prospects in Saskatchewan.  In fact their only concern was that maybe what was negatively affecting the rest of Canada, North America and the world might descend upon them.

I made reference to two companies that had or would soon have patents on very unique products.  One was a supplement company that was close to having the patent on a supplement that, in preliminary tests, seems to lower inflammation at the cellular level in humans, thus slowing the aging process to some degree.  The other company is just in the process of rolling out a patented product that looks like a mouse but is actually a credit ...]]>

Last week I wrote about being pleasantly surprised by a short speaking tour of Saskatchewan.  In every other place I have visited in the past three months there has been extreme pessimism and concern about this Great Recession of 2008-2010/11.  In last week’s column I described how three different groups of CEOs, business owners and senior company executives were upbeat about the economic prospects in Saskatchewan.  In fact their only concern was that maybe what was negatively affecting the rest of Canada, North America and the world might descend upon them.

I made reference to two companies that had or would soon have patents on very unique products.  One was a supplement company that was close to having the patent on a supplement that, in preliminary tests, seems to lower inflammation at the cellular level in humans, thus slowing the aging process to some degree.  The other company is just in the process of rolling out a patented product that looks like a mouse but is actually a credit card scan that encrypts the personal credit data before it is sent over the Internet.

In addition to a comment posted to last week’s column I received numerous emails from friends and readers asking for the names or web sites of these two companies.  Since these companies had shared their products with me in a confidential environment I felt compelled to ask each CEO for permission to publish their web sites.  In the past couple of days they have given me their approval.

The supplement company is www.bioriginal.com It is primarily a company that supplies large supplement companies or retail chains with high quality products.  I am not exactly sure what the name of the product I mentioned is called but it is in the GLA enhanced product category.  I would communicate with them through their contact page and request information about the product that I have mentioned.  I have been taking four capsules twice a day for the past two weeks, and have noticed a small decline in inflammation in my shoulder, this some 3 months after surgery.

The name of the mouse encryption company is NetSecure Technologies and the product is called Smart Swipe.  The link to an explanation of this potentially transformative product is www.smartswipe.ca .  There is a flash video that explains how this new technology will protect the user from identity theft when buying on-line.  I have yet to use the technology, as I have a prototype of the mouse and am waiting for the new version.  Evidently NetSecure will be installing a significant software upgrade within the week.  The promise of security when purchasing on-line is a large and powerful one in this day of identity theft.  This could be a break-out technology if it adds a level of encrypted technology that protects on-line shoppers.

The two areas of health and technology have been areas of amazing breakthroughs in the past ten years.  The decade of 2010 – 2020 will I think be one of the most transformative decades in the history of health and medicine. Health care will move dramatically to prevention as individual genetic mapping will give individuals probabilities on what may be ahead for them in terms of medical conditions and diseases.  Supplements such as gla enhancers will become much more commonplace as they will be taken by people dealing with or wanting to prevent inflammation at the cellular level.

More than two years ago I wrote a column titled “Technology Advances, Privacy Declines“.  This trend has become widespread in the age of cell phones, social networks and on-line transactions.  We almost accept the risk of our private information being accessed by the way we conveniently use technology.  Products such as Smart Swipe could help all of us become at least a bit more protected in this ever expanding on-line world that is becoming the new reality.  Privacy and convenience at the same time?  What a concept!

It was revealed the other day that a laptop, with personnel records for 382,000 Boeing employees was stolen.  This was the third time in 13 months that this has occurred with Boeing.  Of course Boeing is not the only company where this has happened.  Laptops are portable and easy to put into a briefcase or bag.  Someone goes up for another cup of coffee at Starbucks or leaves their desk to go to the bathroom and in a few seconds the laptop and all the data on it is stolen.  We all enjoy the fact that we can have a computer with us wherever we are.  The freedom to work wherever and whenever we want is a very empowering thing, something that didn’t exist 20 years ago.

In the 1960s and 1970s, computing equaled mainframe computing.  Companies and universities all had these large machines that were in air conditioned, controlled access environments.  Access was highly monitored, records were kept for all activities and people even dressed in white ...]]> One of the trade offs we seem to have accepted during the past 20 years is a loss of privacy.  None of us say we approve of that, but we have embraced technology in such a way that a diminished sense of privacy has occurred.  The portability of storage and computing, as discussed on this blog in earlier posts, is a major reason.  The easier small storage devices and laptops are to carry, the higher probability of theft.

It was revealed the other day that a laptop, with personnel records for 382,000 Boeing employees was stolen.  This was the third time in 13 months that this has occurred with Boeing.  Of course Boeing is not the only company where this has happened.  Laptops are portable and easy to put into a briefcase or bag.  Someone goes up for another cup of coffee at Starbucks or leaves their desk to go to the bathroom and in a few seconds the laptop and all the data on it is stolen.  We all enjoy the fact that we can have a computer with us wherever we are.  The freedom to work wherever and whenever we want is a very empowering thing, something that didn’t exist 20 years ago.

In the 1960s and 1970s, computing equaled mainframe computing.  Companies and universities all had these large machines that were in air conditioned, controlled access environments.  Access was highly monitored, records were kept for all activities and people even dressed in white coats.  It looked and felt like the religion of the main frame.  Yes, you could probably steal a computer tape, but you would have to have another main frame computer to access the data.  This is so different than today when every desk has a PC and laptops are everywhere.

The other key development of course is the Internet and the fact that all these computers are connecting to it.  This connectivity allows remote access from practically anywhere.  Firewalls become challenges to hackers.  Identities stolen from computers via the Internet can be almost instantaneously monetized.  It seems like every day there is an article or story in the media about identity theft.  So our highly connected lives open us up to risk.  This also opens us up to tracking.  What web sites we visit on the Internet.  What we buy.  Who we communicate with and what we say.  Of course, now with massive use of wireless we have grown accustomed to using public wireless hot spots for our most personal communications and transactions.  We learned a decade ago that cell phones were less secure than land lines, yet that certainly didn’t compel us to stop using them.  In fact, cell phone usage has exploded as examined here.

Entire new security businesses such as consumer virus protection software, and security gurus such as Bruce Schneier have emerged to help companies protect their data and confidential information.  We all want to be connected and protected at the same time.  If you truly want to keep your communications private, think back on all the mafia movies you have seen.  To avoid being bugged at home or at the office, or being wiretapped via the phone, mafia dons would meet on a park bench or take a walk on a construction site to discuss ‘business’.  Once you move to most electronic communications you increase the risk of intrusion, observation or theft.  Hey, what’s so bad about sitting on a park bench on a sunny day?