2008 Technology Hopes and Fears
2007 was a pretty eventful year for technology. We saw much to provide us with a warm glow of optimism, not least some incredible tech stock valuations and VC plays. On the downside we also saw some gremlins in the mix, most notably the Facebook Beacon fiasco. What will 2008 have in store?
I’m not going to say I have any hard predictions. There will be many fine folks prognosticating already and to be honest I have been taken by surprise so many times this last year I wouldn’t risk it. In fact if 2007 taught me anything it is when it comes to predictions I can guarantee if there are choices between one outcome and another in many cases the actual result will be the unexpected “none of the above”. That said, I do have some hopes and fears for 2008:
Censorship
It seems filtering the internet at country level is now no longer the domain of politically strict countries such as China. The Australian Government has plans to control “on behalf” of the Australian people what they can and can not view or download. Of course they are doing it for the populaces own good as they are not grown up enough to decide what is appropriate for themselves. Very reasonably they will only filter “pornography and inappropriate material”. Who decides what is “inappropriate” or how is not satisfactorily explained.
Fear: Clients of mine have on several occasions been caught by corporate and home web filters entirely inaccurately. Many schools complained after they found that brilliant and informative sex education content was blocked at ISP level for example. Many people have to use workarounds to view innocent blogs such as BoingBoing, probably because they criticize the filtering companies. These systems are not as intelligent and even-handed as the suppliers like to make out.
Now, call me a tinfoil hat-wearing freak, but in my opinion politicians are the very last people who I would want deciding what I am allowed to do on the internet. We have all seen the influence lobbyists, big business, special interests and the corrupt have on politics. If they won’t balk at getting effective medicines removed from pharmacy shelves to further business interests then there is no reason to stop them controlling what we see on the intarwebs for their own evil ends. Once it takes off as a success in Australia, what is to stop other countries following suit?Want to view that Ron Paul website? Sorry, “inappropriate” but you can file a request through official channels and be put on a register?
Hope: The Australian case will hopefully bring the whole subject into the spotlight. The Aussies I know are tough and outspoken people. Ideally the whole filtering thing will light a fire under them so strong that they give their government a sound thrashing over it so bad no other would dare try.
DRM, DMCA, D’oh
Content creators are mostly in favor of some sort of copyright controls. The problem is, big business are fighting for consumer-abusive laws that dictate what customers can and can’t do in a completely unfair and lopsided way. Weasely and greedy politicians then write up the laws that suit those interests rather than the people they were elected to serve. Check out this funny seasonal video about the Canadian situation.
2007 saw the BBC, funded as it is by an enforced “TV tax”, only allow content to be viewed on Windows until forced to make Mac and Linux plans by public outcry. Apple, otherwise the darling of the tech crowd, have led the charge in forcing unreasonable controls on digital music lovers. Video services shut leaving bought and paid for content useless. Record companies became so obsessed with treating music fans as thieves Sony installed malware root-kits on their hard drives. Hello Sony? Mr Burns wants his moral barometer back!
Fear: Citizens seem to be sleep-walking into an ever-deteriorating set of rights while happily being told that reasonable practices such as letting your mum listen to your Neil Diamond MP3 makes you both criminals.
Hope: It seems some in the media industry are realizing that it is not piracy killing their business model but their own practices and anti-consumer stance. More record companies are releasing music untainted by DRM on services competing with iTunes.
Privacy? What Privacy?
2007 wasn’t a great year for privacy. In fact, for many people, it has already been kissed goodbye. I live in the UK where we have pretty much gotten used to 24-7 video surveillance and it’s almost a given that there will be some sort of national ID card at some point. On top of that we have Social Networking services playing fast and loose with our data also.
Fear: While there are many people standing up for their privacy rights, there are many more people who do not care, do not understand or are plain ignorant about privacy concerns. How many times do you hear sentiments along the lines of “If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear”.
Hope: The Facebook u-turn gives me some hope that when users are made aware they will rebel against these sorts of invasions and exploitations of private data.
So, those are my hopes and fears for 2008, what do you think? Have you more to add? Disagree? Let me know in the comments …
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Posted on January 1, 2008 by Chris Garrett
Filed Under Web 2.0
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Censorship is one of my biggest fears. I also fear companies like Google and the power they have to starve you of traffic.
You have to wonder if in years to come nanny-states would block sites that promote smoking, drinking etc?
Google starvation is why I recommend all webmasters build multiple defensible traffic streams, starting with RSS/email
[…] Menneisyys wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptCensorship - It seems filtering the internet at country level is now no longer the domain of politically strict countries such as China. The Australian Government has plans to control “on behalf” of the Australian people what they can … […]