No more secrets

In the very near future you will no longer have to worry about forgetting your computer password, your cash card number or even your keys, because your body will be your ID. Finger scanning, which is similar to fingerprinting, is already being used by large companies to identify employees. Face recognition is another growing area of ID technology, as are voice and eye recognition. Something quite new on the market is footstep identification. Using special floor tiles, computers are able to identify people from the way they walk. This technology will let your employer or your teacher know exactly where you are and what you are doing while you are at work or at school.

Locating you when you are not at work or at school is also becoming easier. GPS (Global Positioning System) technology already exists, and in less in a minute it can find out, via satellite, exactly where you are.

Identify cards are also getting “smarter”. In the near future the cards will contain a microchip, which will be able to store a lot more information. Using this technology, one card will be able to replace most of the pieces of ID that we have to carry around with us, such as: your driving licence, student card, medical card, credit card, birth certificate, etc.

The benefits of all these new ID systems are obvious. But the question we have to ask ourselves now is how the rights of the individual will be preserved. We must ask ourselves whether increased public safety and convenience will come at the cost of our privacy, and whether or not this is a price we are willing to pay. Is convenience worth the loss of privacy as all our personal data from bank records to health information is on file and more readily available every day? Are we really ready to live in a world where our every move is being watched?

Pre-writing task 3

Read the interview about personal robots. Use will or won’t with the verbs.

Rewrite it in the reported speech. Use the interview as the main body of your essay. Think over the introduction and conclusion. Write the whole composition, giving it the appropriate heading.

Interviewer: We all know that robots are already working in factories. But tell us

something about the future. Will people have robots at their homes?

Scientist: Yes, they will. I believe that personal robots (become) as common in the

home as personal computers are today.

Interviewer: ­­­­­­­­­­­________ they _____replace the computer?

Scientist: No, they ______ replace the computer, but one day robots _______

probably operate computers.

Interviewer: Amazing! What other things ______ personal robots do?

Scientist: Well, for one thing, they _______ be complete entertainment centers.

They _____ sing, play any musical instrument, even dance.

Interviewer: _______ they tell jokes?

Scientist: Yes, they ______. But, as with humans, they _____ always be funny !

Interviewer: What else _____ the personal robots do? _____ it have more serious

uses?

Scientist: Yes, it ______ . Robots ______ probably help care for this country’s

aging population. They_______ replace people and take care of sick

old people, but they _______ perform some of the

more routine activities such as cleaning, vacuuming, cooking, loading

the dishwasher or washing machine etc.

Interviewer: It all sounds great! Do you predict any problems?

Scientist: Unfortunately, yes. Some people ______ be happy with the spread of

robots. Not everyone’s life ______ improve. Some people _______ lose

their jobs to robots. And other people ______ create criminal robots!

Interviewer: ______ we need new laws to deal with robotic crime?

Scientist: I’m afraid so.

Pre-writing task 4

Read the text. Make two lists of arguments “for and against” in using mobiles phones.