Consider someone 50 years ago saying: "Anyhow, aren't people already losing their privacy by sometimes buying things with credit?" The implied message is that

Consider someone 50 years ago saying: "Anyhow, aren't people already losing their privacy by sometimes buying things with credit?" The implied message is that things can't get that much worse, that some practical saturation point is about you be reached. But today our daily movements are being tracked by cell networks and license plate readers, and much of what we type or view online becomes individualized dossiers. I think the same pattern applies here: If it seems like it can't get (much) worse, then somebody's not imagining hard enough.