This is a problem that's just going to get worse as the technology evolves:

While many users find them convenient and fun, the new headsets can create peculiar social situations. As was the case with Ms. Vilson and her friend, bystanders are often unaware that a user is wearing one. Indeed, users of Bluetooth headsets often appear to be talking to themselves.

Another pitfall: "Half the time people think you're talking to them when you're really not," says William Robbins, a doctor in Orlando, Fla. He was in a supermarket recently enjoying a bit of risqué banter with an ex-girlfriend over his headset when the woman next to him thought he was talking to her.

Eventually there are going to be implants that allow voiceless communication, bringing one more science-fiction concept (akin to mind-reading) to reality.

He was in a supermarket recently enjoying a bit of risqué banter with an ex-girlfriend over his headset...

Okay, class, who can identify Mr. Robbins' biggest mistake here?

Your friendly local IE tester here...

The link tag you used for the article closed the url with a single quite, instead of a double quote, buggering up the whole post for IE users.

The funny thing is that people complain that IE is too lenient with poor coding, and that FireFox is more strict, yet it seems to be the opposite when it comes to botched tags...

"Eventually there are going to be implants that allow voiceless communication"

They already have this, kind of. It's a mic that straps around your throat and reads the nerve impulses to your vocal cords. It can pick up "under your breath" speech. Although the article I read didn't say if the military used such devices, this would seem like a no-brainer application for Spec-Op "quiet" missions.

Naturally it looks like you're wearing a dog collar, but I expect fashionable ones will be devised. Either that or "the cravat" will come back in big way and no woman will be seen without her colorful silk scarf. :-)

Eventually there are going to be implants that allow voiceless communication....

I have a suggestion where current cellphones could be implanted, right now.

"Eventually there are going to be implants that allow voiceless communication"

The Greys implanted one of these in me during my last abduction.

They call it 'Sub-vocalization'. When, those thoughts are going through your head whether you know it or not your vocal cords are still tensing and relaxing as if you were talking. Only difference is your lungs are not pushing air across the fascia. Except when you think nobody is within earshot of you or not paying attention to what you are doing then one will tend to start talking to themselves outloud especially when pondering significant or profound thoughts. Interestingly, people that are born deaf even sub-vocalize by sign languaging to themselves.

I have an idea for people in general who use their cell phones while in line, in a theater, in a church.

It's still an implant, but much LOWER than the head or neck.

Risque or otherwise, I don't want to hear your conversations. I don't WANT to now about your life, loves, bills, divorces, engagements etc.

For some time, I had to walk a good distance to work walking downtown. I'd walk through a park where there were a large number of people. Fairly often I'd see people standing alone apparently talking to themselves. About half the time I could determine that they had an earpiece. A quarter of the time I could tell they were drunk/drugged/had mental issues. But the other quarter I could never be quite sure ...

Makes me long for the days of phone booths. Real booths that provided privacy on both sides.