At my new house, our wireless network is named after the guy in whose name it was set up, apparently. So when my laptop connects to it, it says that I am connected to “Mark” (not the guy’s name) and that the signal strength is excellent.

This got me thinking about where this might go if you extrapolated it as a trend. At one point, people only had a phone in their home or office. Many people in a home or office would use the same line. But then cell phones changed all that. And now it’s more common for each individual person to have a phone. Based on that alone, it seems like a no brainer that at some point the same thing could happen with data networks, whether wifi or otherwise.

Imagine this: each of us would have a little cloud of keywords, data, files, etc which would essentially follow us around. That way, you would have access to these things no matter what computer terminal or device you were using or what physical location you were within. You could compare it, even, to metaphysical concepts such as the aura: each individual person would have a field of information about themselves or connected to themselves.

You could carry personally identifying information, medical records, media collections, website preferences, etc etc. The possibilities are limitless.

I imagine that accessing information contained in your aura (a literalized version of your datawake) would of course require some device (barring neural implants) and that when you entered into physical proximity to a person and their data aura, you would be given the option of connecting to them, just like “Mark’s” wireless network at my house.

Our network happens to be password protected, while a neighbors is open. The same thing, I’d wager, would apply with layers of your aura. I’ve been using the portmanteau “securacy” (security + privacy) to describe layers of access in a situation like this.

This whole topic is interesting to me because it is poised to revolutionize the idea of what we consider a “person” to be. No longer just a physical body, we could literally carry around with us our past, our interests, our dreams, etc. (Perhaps these files would even be viewable in an augmented reality visor-style interface, or through free-floating graphics which trail behind us as we walk down the street.) A human being, then, becomes a constellation of dynamic information patterns: a microcosmic universe of bits and pieces which define something about who and what we are.

(Yet another reason why ownership of personal data will become absolutely critical over the next few years)