Sue Halpern makes a great point:
“It would be naive
to think that there is a firewall between commercial surveillance and
government surveillance. There is not.
Many of us have
been concerned about digital overreach by our governments, especially after the
Snowden revelations. But the consumerist impulse that feeds the promiscuous
divulgence of personal information similarly threatens our rights as
individuals and our collective welfare. Indeed, it may be more threatening, as
we mindlessly trade ninety-eight degrees of freedom for a bunch of stuff we
have been mesmerized into thinking costs us nothing.”