It's a different thing entirely when the government has data, particularly when that data traces your life. The guy standing on the corner waving a "We buy gol

It's a different thing entirely when the government has data, particularly when that data traces your life. The guy standing on the corner waving a "We buy gold" sign seeing my car/plate is unlikely to be able to do anything with that data. But the government recording my whereabouts can draw me into any sort of investigation they like, based on correlated but not necessarily cause-related data. It's very different. At the least, the government is our servant, not our adversary, and we're supposed to be able to limit and direct what they do. Just because the can do something does not automatically give them the right, particularly if we've told them they can't. Unfortunately they do see themselves as our adversary, and so the question of whether we actually have given them the right to do something is often arguable.