> Mass surveillance is watching everything and fishing for illegal activity. That is not the same as filing subpoenas for data on persons of interest. There ar

> Mass surveillance is watching everything and fishing for illegal activity. That is not the same as filing subpoenas for data on persons of interest. There are several cases of exactly that, fishing people's online movement profiles for illegal activity, e.g.: http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/googling-how-to-murder/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/googling-how-to-murde... > If you think everything that generates records the government can eventually access is "real harm," what exactly are you doing on HN? I post my comments knowing full well that anyone can read them. I do not think my web browsing and searching behaviour is quite the same thing. I cannot decide what to share and what not. To come up with a stupid analogy, it's like saying: "If you don't like being watched, why do you go to the supermarket?" It's not the same as being watched in my bedroom.