Scenario Four Transparency builds a better world, even at the expense of privacy… Prediction: As sensing, storage and communication technologies get cheaper and better, individuals' public and private lives will become increasingly 'transparent' globally. Everything will be more visible to everyone, with good and bad results. Looking at the big picture – at all of the lives affected on the planet in every way possible – this will make the world a better place by the year 2020. The benefits will outweigh the costs.
Respondents’ reactions to this scenario Agree
46%
Disagree
49%
Did not respond
5%
Because results are based on a non-random sample, a margin of error cannot be computed.
An extended collection hundreds of written answers to this question can be found at: http://www.elon.edu/e-web/predictions/expertsurveys/2006survey/transparencyandprivacy.xhtml
An overview of respondents’ reactions to the scenario: Some level of privacy will be retained, but there is disagreement over whether this should be achieved by force of law or social contract. There is an expectation that governments and corporations will continue to escalate surveillance and “own” access to information; the powerful and privileged will benefit most from this growing availability of personal information. Respondents offered divided reactions to this scenario. “We will continue to have very mixed opinions about the effects of transparency and the loss of privacy, just as we do today,” predicted Gary Chapman, director of the 21st Century Project at the LBJ School
Future of the Internet
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Pew Internet & American Life Project