The Internet Brain Implant: Why We Should Say No

This Fall pollsters Zogby International released the results of a survey that asked nearly 10,000 US adults the following question. "How likely would you be to implant a device into your brain that enabled you to use your mind to access the internet if it could be done safely?" 11% of respondents said they were very or somewhat likely to do so...

I've talked to a lot of people in the internet industry about this survey since then and have found an even higher percentage of people who say they are interested in a web enabled brain implant. Let's discuss this sooner rather than later, shall we?

* "Privacy is an illusion" is today still hyperbole

It's common for web-boosters today to assure us that "privacy is an illusion" because you can't do anything online any more that isn't discoverable by search, etc.

This is pure hyperbole. Privacy is one of the biggest drivers of some of the hottest social networks online, including to some degree Facebook.

Fortunately, our thoughts remain our own. There is no guarantee of this once the hardware crosses a membrane, however. It's one thing to share our thoughts via collaboration tools and online self expression - but that needs to be done one thought at a time, in circumstances of our own choosing. Losing whatever degree of control over our own minds that we do have isn't something I feel the need to critique explicitly.

[link to www.readwriteweb.com]