Calling this "data mining" is adding a neutral spin to a horrifying practice. "Harvesting personal information" is more accurate. One annoying aspect of compan

Calling this "data mining" is adding a neutral spin to a horrifying practice. "Harvesting personal information" is more accurate. One annoying aspect of companies doing this is the term they steal becomes encumbered with the negative connotations of the practices behind it. The same thing happened with "metadata".