Tech News That Defined 2015

Driverless cars, batteries that could power both vehicles and homes, super-accessible virtual reality, the digital assistants that are learning how we drive, shop and live -- the list of innovations and promising gadgets grew in 2015. But policy and business may be what changes the tech landscape in 2016. Here are five things to watch in the new year.

Yahoo was a household name and perhaps the most popular search engine in the U.S. during the 1990s, but its latest CEO, Marissa Mayer, has struggled to revive the fading company. In 2015, she calls to replace her this past year as her acquisition of numerous tech companies like Tumblr have failed to revitalize its advertising revenue, contemplated spinning off it's valuable Alibaba stock and, finally, decided to reverse the spin and break off it's core operating business instead.

Yahoo has invested heavily in mobile devices, which could gain it more advertising revenue as the social networking business heads in that direction, but for now the company is a cautionary tale to other entrepreneurs of the changing fortunes of the tech industry.

The Obama administration achieved one of its top goals in 2015 when the Federal Communications Commission passed net neutrality rules that aim to preserve competition online by treating all Internet traffic equally.

Republicans and Democrats split along party lines about whether the rules would increase the government's ability to regulate the Internet, and are still being challenged in court by industry groups like the U.S. Telecom Association. These contests will likely continue for years to come, as the rules seek to prevent companies like Comcast from charging extra for faster download speeds when that money is not needed to meet infrastructure expenses.  

If the rules remain in place then consumers and companies will be protected from paying unfair costs for Internet use, enabling equal opportunity for every website and service on U.S. networks. 

Congress got the message in 2015 that Americans did not want the National Security Agency collecting all their phone records, leading to the passage of the USA Freedom Act to end NSA's dragnet surveillance and pressuring lawmakers to further limit government spying powers. 

The bill that ended the NSA's once-secret metadata collection program was the result of public outcry that began in 2013 after former agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents about its spying efforts to the press. President Barack Obama and other lawmakers gradually reversed their support of the surveillance program, and acquiesced to calls for reform from both the tech industry and the public.

Privacy advocates argue that the Freedom Act did not go far enough to prevent government from spying on Americans without a warrant and continue to press for more reforms.

Law enforcement and spying agencies still have a big appetite for digital information, however, and will continue to press for more data collection powers as a means to pursue criminals and terrorists.

Terrorist attacks in Paris and California are prompting government and law enforcement agencies to increase pressure on Silicon Valley companies to decrypt their services so they can monitor communications for potential threats.

President Barack Obama’s official position is that he is not seeking legislation that would weaken encryption – a feature that tech companies have added to boost cybersecurity and privacy for their customers. But, during his recent Oval Office remarks about counterterrorism, the president stated:  “I will urge high-tech and law-enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.”

Privacy groups like the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute and technology companies like Apple argue that creating vulnerabilities for government to use to access encrypted services would weaken privacy and security, but would also be ineffective as terrorists would find other means to avoid detection while they communicate. 

Online thieves looted customer payment information last year from companies like Target and Neiman Marcus, but things really got personal when they targeted the private information of tens of millions of Americans.  

Hackers stole information from the Office of Personnel Management on as many as 21 million people, including millions of federal employees with security clearances. Thieves based in China are suspected to be the culprits, which prompted President Barack Obama and China's President Xi Jinping to agree not to hack private sector networks in their two nations for profit.

Hackers also hit on a non-government level: Data breaches AshleyMadison.com, a site that arranges extramarital affairs, exposed the names, addresses and credit card payments of up to 37 million people. 

Even highly personal medical records became a target in 2015. Hacks of healthcare providers including Anthem, Premera and BlueCross Blue Shield led to the theft of approximately 100 million health records.

Whatever steps are taken in 2016 to address cybersecurity and bring hackers to justice, people will begin the year with fewer illusions that their privacy is assured.