Shogun

I return to prediction mode once again for major tech trends in 2008. I've had a little help in gauging the buzz on these topics by entering them as search terms on Google Trends, www.google.com/trends, which shows charts on how many searches the topic generated in 2007. Look up the iPhone or Wii and you can see the buzz growing. Here are 10 things I see happening in the coming year:

Threats to our civil liberties will increase from two directions. The government will seek more authority to spy on Americans in the name of fighting terrorism. And industry will keep creating new technologies with features that can be abused. Eager to feed the social networking craze, companies will build more tools for people to voluntarily entrap themselves. Like a cell phone that keeps track of where your friends are. The problem is that these new technologies (such as the small, wearable VholdR camcorder) have both benign and sinister uses. The sinister uses leave people vulnerable to spying and stalking.

http://www.siliconvalley.com/ci_7819127