Wireless technology is increasingly important, but major problems with it include information security and privacy.
As well as being a status symbol, wireless technology (i.e., mobile phones, Palm Pilots) is a great convenience of the modern world. It makes communications and information storage much easier and more efficient.
However, questions of security and privacy remain. Most people want their conversations and personal information to remain private. While security efforts such as government monitoring could help prevent other citizens from illegally listening to or viewing other peoples information, most also find such governmental monitoring undesirable. Herein lies the contradiction.
Fortunately, methods of security that do not invoke government interference exist. E-mails can be sent via secure links, anti-virus programs are available for Internet browsers, and passwords allow selective access to various mediums.
While the above provide a modicum of security, nothing is foolproof. Military history teaches that advances in projectiles will always defeat advances in armor, and this rule applies to wireless technology as it does to chain mail or tanks.
Despite this, wireless technology should be utilized because of its advantages. No method of communication or information storage is completely secure, and wireless technology is relatively safe.