21 technology tipping points we will reach by 2030

From driverless cars to robotic workers, the future is going to be here before you know it.
Many emerging technologies that you hear about today will reach a tipping point by 2025, according to a recent report from The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Software & Society.

The council surveyed more than 800 executives and experts from the technology sector to share their timeline for when technologies would become mainstream.

From the survey results, the council identified 21 defining moments, all of which they predict will occur by 2030.

Here’s a look at the technological shifts you can expect during the next 14 years.


90% of the population will have unlimited and free data storage by 2018.

Deleting files to make room for files is going to become a thing of the past.

In fewer than three years, about 90% of people will have unlimited and free data storage that will ultimately be ad-supported, according to the report.

We are already seeing some companies offer cheap or completely free service. For example, Google Photos already offers unlimited storage for photos and Amazon will let you store an unlimited amount of whatever you want for just $60 a year.

A big reason companies are able to do this is because hard drive cost per gigabyte continues to fall. This has spurred more data to be created than ever before. According to the report, it's estimated about 90% of all data has been created in just the last two years.

Still, there are signs this may not be the case. Microsoft recently killed its plan that offered unlimited storage on its cloud service OneDrive.


The first robotic pharmacist will arrive in the US 2021.

Robots already have a big presence in the manufacturing industry, but as they become more advanced we will see them enter new service oriented jobs.

In fact, respondents predict that by 2021 we will even have first robot pharmacist in the US.


1 trillion sensors will be connected to the internet by 2022.

Welcome to the internet of things.

As the cost of sensors continues to decline and computing power increases, all kinds of devices will increasingly become connected to the internet. From the clothes you wear to the ground you walk on, everything will come online.

And as early as 2022, its predicted 1 trillion sensors will be connected

According to the report “every (physical) product could be connected to ubiquitous communication infrastructure, and sensors everywhere will allow people to fully perceive their environment.”


10% of the world's population will be wearing clothes connected to the internet by 2022.

Cars, appliances, and other everyday objects are increasingly becoming more connected to the internet. And not too long from now, even the clothes on our back will get a connection.

By 2022, experts predict that 10% of people will be wearing clothing with embedded chips that connects them to the internet.

This isn’t really too surprising seeing as a number of accessories—including watches and rings— are already becoming connected. According to the research firm Gartner, about 70 million smartwatches and other bands will be sold in 2015 alone.


The first 3D-printed car will be in production by 2022.

3D printers are increasingly becoming more powerful, capable of printing complex objects from all kinds of materials. Many car companies are already using the technology to create prototypes and to more efficiently create specific parts of a vehicle.

Most recently, Audi showed off a miniature sized vehicle it created using its metal printers.

But the automotive startup Local Motors is aiming to begin production on a full size car using 3D printing in the next few years. The company has already created several prototypes, but will begin taking orders for its production model (shown above) in 2016.


The first implantable mobile phone will become commercially available in 2025.

Being attached to your smartphone may take on a whole new meaning by 2023.

About 80% of respondents predict that in seven years the first implantable mobile phone will become commercially available.

The device will potentially be able to track a person’s health more accurately, while also allowing them to communicate thoughts via brainwaves or signal instead of verbally, according to the report.

Implantable health devices, like pacemakers and cochlear implants, have already become mainstream. And it's likely we'll see more widespread adoption of implantable technologies emerge before 2025.


The first government to replace its census with big-data technologies by 2023.

As collecting, managing, and understanding data becomes easier, governments may move away from old methods of collecting information and begin to rely more on big data technologies to automate programs.

According to the report, this is going to happen sooner than later. More than 80% of respondents estimate that the first government will replace the census with big-data systems by 2023.

Some countries, including Canada, have already began experimenting with pulling back on traditional census methods, however, no country has completely replaced the system yet.


10% of reading glasses will be connected to the internet by 2023.

Interacting with the world around you will become a lot different when connected glasses become more common.

Eighty-six percent of survey respondents predict connected eye wear will become common by 2023. The technology will allow the wearer to have direct access to internet applications will enable an enhanced or augmented reality experience. Eye tracking technology will also enable them to control the interface with their vision.

Google, of course, has already introduced similar technology with its Google Glass and is currently working on connected contact lenses.


80% of people on earth will have a digital presence online by 2023.

More people will gain a digital identity as internet connectivity becomes more prevalent.

Respondents estimate that by 2023 more than 80% of the global population will have a digital presence.

According to the report “...digital life is becoming inextricably linked with a person’s physical life,” and will only continue to grow in importance.

Companies like Facebook and Google are pushing this effort ahead with various projects to connect remote parts of the world to the internet.


A government will collect taxes for the first time via blockchain 2023.

Digital currencies, like Bitcoin, use a mechanism called the blockchain to perform transactions. The blockchain is essentially a shared public ledger to track transactions. Everyone can inspect the ledger, but no one individual controls it.

The blockchain technology, though, holds promise beyond Bitcoin. Some have proposed using the technology for public databases, like titles to land or other goods. According to recent article from the Economist, the NASDAQ is even about to start using the technology to record trading in securities of private companies.

Blockchain technology is expected to reach its tipping point in the next few years and by 2023 its predicted that the first government will collect taxes using the technology.


90% of the global population will have a supercomputer in their pocket by 2023.

Around the world people are increasingly using their smartphones more than PCs, and in developing nations people are becoming connected to the internet for the first time via their mobile phone. As smartphones gain computing power and the price continues to fall, the speed of adoption will only accelerate.

The number of global smartphone subscribers is estimated to reach more than 50% penetration by 2017 and by 2023, about 90% of the population will be connected via smartphone.


Access to the Internet will become a basic right by 2024.

According to the survey, 79% of respondents predict that by 2024 most of the world will have regular internet access.

Tech giants like Google and Facebook are currently coming up with creative solutions to connect the remaining 4 billion people who don’t have access to the internet.

Facebook’s Internet.org is using drones to beam internet down to Earth from satellites and Google’s Project Loon is using giant balloons that float in the atmosphere to connect remote parts of the world.


The first transplant of a 3D-printed liver will occur 2024.

3D printers are already increasingly used in the healthcare industry to create human parts, like bone replacements and organ implants.

Doctors have already used 3D printing to create part of a patient's rib cage and other bone implants. But bioprinting, which combines bioengineering with 3D printing, will also enable researchers and others in the healthcare industry to grow useable artificial organs.


More than 50% of Internet traffic to homes will be from appliances and device by 2024.

As more sensors are deployed and more products become connected to the internet, we will see a big shift in internet traffic.

Currently, most of the internet traffic in home is for personal consumption, whether it be for communication or entertainment. But by 2024, about half of the internet in the home will be used for home automation purposes.


5% of consumer products will be 3D-printed.

3D printing, also know as additive manufacturing, has already made a lot of inroads with designers and in the manufacturing industry.

But as the printers become less expensive, more powerful, and easier to use, consumers will also increasingly adopt the technology. This will enable them to print things at home on demand.

Demand for the technology has already grown more than it was expected. In 2014, there were 133,000 3D printers sold worldwide, which is a 68% increase from 2013.


30% of corporate audits will be performed by artificial intelligence 2025.

AI will increasingly replace a range of jobs performed by people today, including white collar jobs.

Because artificial intelligence is so effective when it comes to matching patterns and automating processes, it’s well suited to perform many tasks in large organizations, according to the report.

According to an recent research from the McKinsey Global Institute, about 45% of activities people are paid to perform can be automated by adapting current technologies. This represents about $2 trillion in annual wages in the US. Furthermore, it’s not only low-income, low-skill workers that will be at risk.

According to the McKinsey research, “even the highest-paid occupations in the economy, such as financial managers, physicians, and senior executives, including CEOs, have a significant amount of activity that can be automated.”

By 2025, AI used in white collar jobs is expected to reach a tipping point and about 30% of corporate audits will be performed by AI.


Globally, more trips will be made using car sharing programs than privately owned cars by 2025.

The sharing economy has taken off in a big way during the last few years thanks to online marketplaces and mobile apps, but perhaps the best example of the sharing economy in action is in the transportation sector.

Services like Uber, Lyft, and Zipcar have changed how people think about transport and car ownership. It’s also forced auto manufacturers to rethink their business models.

And by 2025, 67% of respondents predict that the sharing economy will have grown to the point that more rides taken globally are actually via a car sharing service and not by a privately owned car.


Driverless cars will account for 10% of all cars in the US.

Autonomous cars have the potential to dramatically increase safety, decrease emissions, and change models of transportation.

Tech companies like Google and Uber, as well as traditional automakers like Toyota, General Motors, and Volkswagen are all currently working on self-driving cars. But respondents predict that it will be 2026 before the 10% of all cars are driverless in the US.


The first AI machine will join a corporate board of directors 2026.

Artificial intelligence will increasingly play a more important role in the business world as a decision making tool.

Because AI can learn from previous situations, it can provide insight and automate complex decision process based on data and past experiences. This means that the robots won't just replace low-wage, low-income jobs. As AI and robotics evolve, we will see more white-collar jobs also begin to be replaced.

According to the survey, the technology will be to the point that the first AI machine will become part of corporate board of directors by 2026.


The first city with more than 50,000 people and no traffic lights will come into existence by 2026.

Infrastructure will also become more connected in the future, giving way to more smart cities. Everything from the sidewalk and streets to the traffic lights and buildings will be connected to the internet.

Smart cities, like a smart home, will be automated capable of managing their “energy, material flows, logistics and traffic,” according to the report.

The evolution of connected infrastructure will bring about the first city with a population of 50,000 people and no traffic lights by 2026, according to the report.


10% of global gross domestic product will be stored using blockchain technology 2027.

As blockchain technology take off, more money will be stored using the technology.

According to the report, the total worth of Bitcoin in the blockchain is around $20 billion, or about 0.025% of global GDP of around $80 trillion. By 2027, about 10% of the global GDP will be stored using blockchain.

New virus can spy on online banking transactions

The latest cyber threat to target users in the Middle East could steal browser passwords and online banking account credentials, according to security firm Kaspersky Lab.

The Moscow-based firm announced on Thursday that it has discovered the cyber surveillance virus, which it calls “Gauss,” in personal computers in Lebanon.

Kaspersky Lab said Gauss is capable of stealing data from the clients of several Lebanese banks and it has also targeted Citibank and PayPal users.

It’s estimated that the virus was deployed around September 2011.

Researchers discovered Gauss due to its strong resemblance to Flame, a cyber virus that infiltrated computers in Iran and was believed to have targeted the country’s nuclear program.

Kaspersky Lab described Gauss as a “complex cyber-espionage toolkit,” which was created by the same individuals behind Flame.

“Gauss bears striking resemblances to Flame, such as its design and code base, which enabled us to discover the malicious program,” said Kaspersky Lab chief security expert Alexander Gostev.

Kaspersky Lab was helping the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union search for destructive malware when it came across Flame.

However, Gostev said that Gauss’ purpose was different than Flame’s.

“Gauss targets multiple users in select countries to steal large amounts of data, with a specific focus on banking and financial information.”

Flame, on the other hand, targeted specific software vulnerabilities and was selective in the computers it attacked.

In a posting on its website, Kaspersky Lab said the detailed data from the infected computers is sent to the attackers.

 “Since late May 2012, more than 2,500 infections were recorded by Kaspersky Lab’s cloud-based security system,” said the company, estimating the total number of victims of Gauss to be in the tens of thousands.

Gauss has since been blocked and remediated by Kaspersky Lab.

It really is a world-wide web! Stunning map that shows the sprawling mass of internet cables that keeps the world connected

By Mark Prigg

You almost certainly use it every day, but until now nobody has really known what the internet actually looks like.

However, Fortune magazine and graphic designer Nicolas Rapp teamed up with telecom data and infrastructure company GeoTel Communications.

The company maps fiber optic cables and geographic information systems (GIS) that connect people all over the world, which were used to create the stunning image below.

It shows the key locations for fiber optic cables, the high speed connections that form the backbone of the internet.

It also reveals that much of the online world is actually underwater, and under the world's largest oceans.

These cables transfer data in the form of light to and from power repeaters in major cities — such as Hong Kong and New York — in a matter of milliseconds.

'If the internet is a global phenomenon, it’s because there are fiber-optic cables underneath the ocean,' said the designer of the images Nicolas Rapp.

He explained how the cables are used.

'Light goes in on one shore and comes out the other, making these tubes the fundamental conduit of information throughout the global village,' he said on his blog.

'To make the light travel enormous distances, thousands of volts of electricity are sent through the cable’s copper sleeve to power repeaters, each the size and roughly the shape of a 600-pound bluefin tuna.

'Once a cable reaches a coast, it enters a building known as a “landing station” that receives and transmits the flashes of light sent across the water.

'The fiber-optic lines then connect to key hubs, known as “Internet exchange points,” which, for the most part, follow geography and population.

The idea of the maps was to explain how the internet works in an easy to understand manner.

“Most people have no clue what the world’s communication infrastructure looks like,” Dave Drazen of GeoTel told Mashable.

“When they open this [article] up, they’re astonished. You’re actually mapping the Internet right here.”

Google Now

By Sarah Perez

Google Now, the smart personal search assistant announced yesterday at Google I/O, has now come online. Well, the landing page for the service has come online, that is. The new site introduces the key aspects to Google Now, which arrives in Google’s next mobile operating system, Android 4.1 (aka Jelly Bean), including its ability to track flights, keep an eye on traffic and your calendar, check sports scores and weather, see suggested places nearby, and more.

The feature, accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the homescreen has already been referred to as a “Siri killer” by some Android fans because of its ability to not just assist you, but to proactively alert you to new information based on your needs. One example which Google showed off in its demo yesterday was a flight search, which would later pop up a card that appeared with flight alerts and delays as they occurred in real-time. In another example, Google learned what sports teams you liked based on your search history and could then alert you to upcoming games and scores. In another, you could see suggested places to eat or shop as you walked down the street.

However, the biggest piece to Google Now is that the information comes and finds you – not the other way around. This is a key difference between how Siri operates today and what Google is promising. Of course, you as the user are in control of the experience and can enable or disable which cards and alerts you would see. It’s opt-in, which goes a long way to dispel the potential “creepy” factor here. It’s not as if Skynet has just come online. (I think).

The idea for this type of search-without-the-search technology, if you will, has been in development for some time. In 2010, then CEO, now Chairman Eric Schmidt spoke of a “serendipity engine” as the future of Google search. “We want to give you your time back,” Schmidt said at the time. Google Instant was the first step towards that goal, but Google Now takes a giant leap. At the IFA conference in Berlin, Schmidt described the experience that is today’s Google Now, talking about how phones could spout off random facts as you walked around town, or how they could inform you of the weather, understanding the natural language of human speech. He called this idea a new age of “augmented reality,” where computers work for us.

Unfortunately, for the time being, that new age will only be available to a precious few – those who buy or can upgrade their Android-based devices to Jelly Bean. But much of what Google Now offers could be bundled into an Android or even iOS (!) app using the platforms’ push notifications feature. Hopefully that is in the works, too.

U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus to slow Iranian nuclear efforts, officials say

By Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller and Julie Tate

The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials with knowledge of the effort.

The massive piece of malware secretly mapped and monitored Iran’s computer networks, sending back a steady stream of intelligence to prepare for a cyber­warfare campaign, according to the officials.

The effort, involving the National Security Agency, the CIA and Israel’s military, has included the use of destructive software such as the Stuxnet virus to cause malfunctions in Iran’s nuclear-enrichment equipment.

The emerging details about Flame provide new clues to what is thought to be the first sustained campaign of cyber-sabotage against an adversary of the United States.

“This is about preparing the battlefield for another type of covert action,” said one former high-ranking U.S. intelligence official, who added that Flame and Stuxnet were elements of a broader assault that continues today. “Cyber-collection against the Iranian program is way further down the road than this.”

Flame came to light last month after Iran detected a series of cyberattacks on its oil industry. The disruption was directed by Israel in a unilateral operation that apparently caught its American partners off guard, according to several U.S. and Western officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

There has been speculation that Washington had a role in developing Flame, but the collaboration on the virus between the United States and Israel has not been previously confirmed. Commercial security researchers reported last week that Flame contained some of the same code as Stuxnet. Experts described the overlap as DNA-like evidence that the two sets of malware were parallel projects run by the same entity.

Spokesmen for the CIA, the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to comment.

The virus is among the most sophisticated and subversive pieces of malware to be exposed to date. Experts said the program was designed to replicate across even highly secure networks, then control everyday computer functions to send secrets back to its creators. The code could activate computer microphones and cameras, log keyboard strokes, take screen shots, extract geo­location data from images, and send and receive commands and data through Bluetooth wireless technology.

Flame was designed to do all this while masquerading as a routine Microsoft software update; it evaded detection for several years by using a sophisticated program to crack an encryption algorithm.

“This is not something that most security researchers have the skills or resources to do,” said Tom Parker, chief technology officer for FusionX, a security firm that specializes in simulating state-sponsored cyberattacks. He said he does not know who was behind the virus. “You’d expect that of only the most advanced cryptomathematicians, such as those working at NSA.”

Conventional plus cyber

Flame was developed at least five years ago as part of a classified effort code-named Olympic Games, according to officials familiar with U.S. cyber-operations and experts who have scrutinized its code. The U.S.-Israeli collaboration was intended to slow Iran’s nuclear program, reduce the pressure for a conventional military attack and extend the timetable for diplomacy and sanctions.

The cyberattacks augmented conventional sabotage efforts by both countries, including inserting flawed centrifuge parts and other components into Iran’s nuclear supply chain.

The best-known cyberweapon let loose on Iran was Stuxnet, a name coined by researchers in the antivirus industry who discovered it two years ago. It infected a specific type of industrial controller at Iran’s uranium-

enrichment plant in Natanz, causing almost 1,000 centrifuges to spin out of control. The damage occurred gradually, over months, and Iranian officials initially thought it was the result of incompetence.

The scale of the espionage and sabotage effort “is proportionate to the problem that’s trying to be resolved,” the former intelligence official said, referring to the Iranian nuclear program. Although Stuxnet and Flame infections can be countered, “it doesn’t mean that other tools aren’t in play or performing effectively,” he said.

To develop these tools, the United States relies on two of its elite spy agencies. The NSA, known mainly for its electronic eavesdropping and code-breaking capabilities, has extensive expertise in developing malicious code that can be aimed at U.S. adversaries, including Iran. The CIA lacks the NSA’s sophistication in building malware but is deeply involved in the cyber-campaign.

The CIA’s Information Operations Center is second only to the agency’s Counterterrorism Center in size. The IOC, as it is known, performs an array of espionage functions, including extracting data from laptops seized in counter­terrorism raids. But the center specializes in computer penetrations that require closer contact with the target, such as using spies or unwitting contractors to spread a contagion via a thumb drive.

Both agencies analyze the intelligence obtained through malware such as Flame and have continued to develop new weapons even as recent attacks have been exposed.

Flame’s discovery shows the importance of mapping networks and collecting intelligence on targets as the prelude to an attack, especially in closed computer networks. Officials say gaining and keeping access to a network is 99 percent of the challenge.

“It is far more difficult to penetrate a network, learn about it, reside on it forever and extract information from it without being detected than it is to go in and stomp around inside the network causing damage,” said Michael V. Hayden, a former NSA director and CIA director who left office in 2009. He declined to discuss any operations he was involved with during his time in government.

Years in the making

The effort to delay Iran’s nuclear program using cyber-techniques began in the mid-2000s, during President George W. Bush’s second term. At that point it consisted mainly of gathering intelligence to identify potential targets and create tools to disrupt them. In 2008, the program went operational and shifted from military to CIA control, former officials said.

Despite their collaboration on developing the malicious code, the United States and Israel have not always coordinated their attacks. Israel’s April assaults on Iran’s Oil Ministry and oil-export facilities caused only minor disruptions. The episode led Iran to investigate and ultimately discover Flame.

“The virus penetrated some fields — one of them was the oil sector,” Gholam Reza Jalali, an Iranian military cyber official, told Iranian state radio in May. “Fortunately, we detected and controlled this single incident.”

Some U.S. intelligence officials were dismayed that Israel’s unilateral incursion led to the discovery of the virus, prompting counter­measures.

The disruptions led Iran to ask a Russian security firm and a Hungarian cyber-lab for help, according to U.S. and international officials familiar with the incident.

Last week, researchers with Kaspersky Lab, the Russian security firm, reported their conclusion that Flame — a name they came up with — was created by the same group or groups that built Stuxnet. Kaspersky declined to comment on whether it was approached by Iran.

“We are now 100 percent sure that the Stuxnet and Flame groups worked together,” said Roel Schouwenberg, a Boston-based senior researcher with Kaspersky Lab.

The firm also determined that the Flame malware predates Stuxnet. “It looks like the Flame platform was used as a kickstarter of sorts to get the Stuxnet project going,” Schouwenberg said.

Google, Amazon lead rush for new Web domain suffixes in bids to ICANN

By Hayley Tsukayama and Peter Whoriskey

Amazon and Google are staking claims to large swaths of the Internet under a new system for labeling Web domains, bolstering their ability to control traffic as the Web expands beyond the realms of “.com,” “.gov” and “.org.”

The bids by those companies to acquire new domain names such as “.book,” “.shop” and “.movie” renewed fears among competitors that a powerful few will dominate the Internet marketplace of the future.

A slate of roughly 2,000 new Web suffixes, including “.app” and “.sex,” was revealed Wednesday by the nonprofit organization tasked with regulating domain names, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. The group announced last year that it would take applications for new domain names to foster growth and competition online. The new domains are scheduled to go into effect next year.

“We’re standing at the cusp of a new era of online innovation,” said Rod Beckstrom, president of the group, known as ICANN.

If Internet users embrace the new domains, the companies that control them could bear considerable influence on Web traffic.

Amazon has applied to control the “.book” and “.movie” names, for example, meaning that anyone else selling those items would have to get the company’s permission to be listed within that domain.

The National Retail Federation had urged that oversight of such generic domain names be given to impartial entities rather than individual companies.

“The results for now are as potentially unfair to businesses and consumers as we feared they might be,” said Mallory Duncan, general counsel for the trade group.

For example, if a grocery store controls the “.grocery” suffix, it could theoretically exclude competitors from listing their sites there.

Duncan said consumers may not realize that the new domains are under private control and that the open competition that prevails within the “.com” realm may not exist within, say, “.grocery.”

“Consumers going to that domain may not realize that all of their shopping is being done with one company instead of a competitive market,” Duncan said.

Google was among the most prolific applicants, seeking to register 101 names at an application cost of $18.7 million. Never lacking in its quest for virtual completeness, the company is seeking to control “.mom,” “.dad” and “.kid.”

Amazon applied for 76 new names, including “.amazon” and “.zappos.”

The expansion of Web domains has the potential to make over how surfers conceive of the Internet. Until now, entities have largely broken down by type of institution: “.gov” for government agencies, “.com” for businesses and “.org” for other groups.

The new suffixes add a potentially confusing array of categories. Among the many that have been formally proposed are “.sucks,” “.rip” and “.vip.” While some might sound like jokes, the fact that the application fee for each is $185,000 tends to keep things serious.

Applicants were heavily concentrated in North America (911), Europe (675) and the Asia-Pacific region (303). There were only 17 applications from Africa, which raised questions about whether the cost of an application was too high to be equitable.

Many of the potential new domain names are being sought by multiple companies. The most popular was “.app” with 13 applications, but even “.sucks” is the prize in a three-way contest.

The applicants must first pass an initial review by ICANN. If groups competing for a domain name cannot reach an agreement among themselves, the names will be auctioned off.

ICANN said it expects the first new address to go live in 2013.

What’s not clear, however, is whether consumers will embrace any of the new names.

“It’s going to present users with a lot of new choices,” said Brian Cute, chief executive of the Public Interest Registry, which runs the “.org” domain. “If you have 50 choices of toothpaste, the average consumer is going to the brands they know. That could be the case here.”

Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, said: “It’s a matter of changing the ingrained habits of millions of people on the Web. Maybe they can do that, and maybe they can’t.”

Even so, many companies are bracing for potential changes to their business.

Advertisers have criticized ICANN’s proposal, saying their concerns were not adequately addressed during the initial review process. Advertisers and others have raised concerns that companies will have to have several defensive addresses — negative-sounding names that the company purchases to keep a rival from exploiting them — to keep counterfeiters at bay.

Beckstrom said Wednesday that ICANN has added several protective provisions, including the option for rapid takedown when brand holders feel their intellectual property may be threatened. ICANN also reserves the right to take a domain name back if there is significant abuse.

Others, however, are bracing for the giants of the Internet to seize even more power over its commerce.

“It would be wrong on so many levels for Amazon to acquire either the ‘.book’ or ‘.author’ top-level domains,” said Paul Aiken of the Author’s Guild. “Their ambitions to extend their monopoly in bookselling have long been abundantly clear, and with their cash, their technical knowledge, this could be yet another way in which they’ve extended their control over the book market. This really makes no sense.”

World's largest biometric database

In the last two years, over 200 million Indian nationals have had their fingerprints and photographs taken and irises scanned, and given a unique 12-digit number that should identify them everywhere and to everyone.

This is only the beginning, and the goal is to do the same with the entire population (1.2 billion), so that poorer Indians can finally prove their existence and identity when needed for getting documents, getting help from the government, and opening bank and other accounts.

This immense task needs a database that can contain over 12 billion fingerprints, 1.2 billion photographs, and 2.4 billion iris scans, can be queried from diverse devices connected to the Internet, and can return accurate results in an extremely short time.

The program - dubbed UIDAI - is lead by techno tycoon Nandan Nilekani, and is already a big success, as its effectiveness has been proved by a number of trials that allowed citizens to open bank accounts electronically, receive payments from the government directly into them, and withdrawing the money from them by authenticating themselves on a slew of simple devices.

According to BBC's Saritha Rai, the database in question has an open source backbone, and it's not locked into any specific hardware or software. The collected information - stored in a data centre in Bangalore - is secured by multiple layers of security, and it is transmitted to and from the database in encrypted form.

The 12-digit number each individual is assigned is unique and random, so it can't be guessed. And the combination of photo, fingerprints of all ten hand fingers and iris scans of both eyes makes it practically impossible for someone not to get identified or to get identified as another person, especially after the three planned de-duplication checks are executed.

Using the latest biometric, cloud computing and connection technologies, this program is likely to become a great example for future ones dealing with even larger databases.