Mal Fletcher comments

Privacy

Debates about potential invasions of privacy will continue, both in relation to public figures and private individuals. Debates about celebrities and the public's right to know will continue, though little of any consequence may come from them. When it comes to the privacy of everyday people, however, discussion will centre on the increasing role of social networking and mobile phone services in providing data-mining opportunities for marketing companies. Lifestyle logging is set to become big business, allowing consumers to have products pitched at them via their phones, based on their established interests and current location. There will be strong public pressure to see that opt-out clauses for these services are clear and that they are respected.

Meanwhile, ID-theft will be made much easier by much more widespread use of wave-and-pay and other RFID-driven technologies. Well-organised and more vocal streams will form within Facebook and similar communities, calling for much tighter controls over how private information is utilised and stored. In the workplace, employees will seek greater levels of disclosure about how company's monitor emails, social networking services and even keystrokes.

Conclusion

The only thing that is certain about the future is, of course, its uncertainty. The best we can do is draw upon past experience and currently emerging shifts to make educated guesses about what tomorrow may bring.

Every New Year is malleable and brings with it an eclectic bundle of challenges and brilliant opportunities. The future we collectively draw out of those raw materials will not primarily be a product of economics or technology. It will be the result of human choices, of deliberate actions and reactions to events.

By taking a proactive stance toward 2012 and committing to an optimistic outlook - one where realism is tempered with a dash of idealism - we can make choices, individually and collectively, that will call forth what Abraham Lincoln called our 'better angels'. We, as conscientious people, have the opportunity to shape 2012 more than it will shape us.