[This column was first published in the Shift Age Newsletter #27]

Eight years ago I first began to write and speak about the future full time.  Then, as always, I was asked about what accurate forecasts I had made.  This told me of course that my legitimacy to some degree would be based upon this.  So I did start to make forecasts.

The second thing I realized was that most people, and certainly people who lead institutions and companies, are interested in what will happen six months to five years out as that is what is their primary …

The word cyberspace is ubiquitous.  I don’t think I know of an adult that does not know or use the word.  Cyberspace is most often used when talking about all that exists on the Internet, the space/time area of computer interactions.  It is a word that has settled into use and understanding around the world.  In addition, the first part of the word, cyber, is now a prefix as in Cyber Monday and Cyber Attack.

It is generally agreed that the great science fiction writer William Gibson is the one who is most responsible for the creation of the word, first …

Privacy was clearly a major topic in 2013.  The ongoing conversations around the world subsequent to Snowden’s revelations have been extensive and on-going.  His recent comments to England on Christmas Day and the recent interview in the Washington Post provoked a lot of commentary at the end of the year.

The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford just called 2013  “The Year of Privacy”.  As the author mentioned in this column, dictionary.com named “privacy the word of the year”. In addition, Safegov.org published a column about  “The Year in Privacy 2013 and …

The issue of blanket surveillance by the NSA now heads to the Supreme Court.  The powerful ruling by Judge Richard J. Leon of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia against the blanket surveillance now means that the issue will be argued before the Supreme Court.

This will happen as Judge Leon, while issuing an opinion that calls the use of technology “almost Orwellian” and that “James Madison would be aghast”,  ruled only on the part of two petitioners to the court.  He stayed his injunction “in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case …