It is the power equation which has changed. Modeling each individual in a population the size of America based on a 1000 variables would be the realm of fantas

It is the power equation which has changed. Modeling each individual in a population the size of America based on a 1000 variables would be the realm of fantasy in the 1990s. The manpower requirements to even gather, organize and group large volumes of data made profiling, or things like Obama's campaign the things of science fiction. Now the system has shifted dramatically. Not only is such analysis is possible, it is constant. While the models are not perfect, they managed to get Obama to 1.5 % of the final poll numbers. Practically - this is a difference between bronze age weaponry and Iron age weaponry, and only one side has the ability to use these weapons. Normal citizens will not be able to run similar models on government. Normal citizens dont have access to databases of such data, nor can they in turn stay one step ahead of the government. Earlier the barrier for a government to collude against its populace meant that a strong civil rights movement could halt nascent programs because of the runway required for them to take off (Years and large manpower requirements just to record data). Ideally at this stage, people need to know what is being predicted about them, how the data is being used. People need to be mutually armed and aware.