> There is a significant difference between private companies collecting data and the state doing wholesale surveillance. I used to agree, but don't we know fo

> There is a significant difference between private companies collecting data and the state doing wholesale surveillance. I used to agree, but don't we know for certain that this is false now? With the Snowden documents, we know that the USA government, along with others, knows how valuable these private companies' data stores are and will hack their way in so that they can get access (if they're refused when they first ask politely). I no longer think there's much real difference at all between the private companies collecting the data and then actively/passively sending it to the government, vs. the government doing all the collecting and analyzing themselves. And the point that I was trying to make is that even if the private companies can collect and analyze the data safely (they can't), that still sets up a society that is willing to be watched. That is the hardest part for totalitarian governments to overcome; if you hand the USA or China or Russian governments a silver platter of a willing population that will accept the surveillance from one entity, they will accept it from another. That's a dangerous place to be.