Prometheus 6

The bigger issue is the digital dossiers that tech companies can compile. Some companies have promised to keep data confidential, or to obscure it so it cannot be traced back to individuals. But it’s hard to know what a particular company’s policy is, and there are too many to keep track of. And privacy policies can be changed at any time.

There is also no guarantee that the information will stay with the company that collected it. It can be sold to employers or insurance companies, which have financial motives for wanting to know if their workers and policyholders are alcoholics or have AIDS.

If I recall correctly, it has been legally established that the guy who compiles a database (of whatever sort, from whatever source) owns said database.

It could also end up with the government, which needs only to serve a subpoena to get it (and these days that formality might be ignored).

Which means the feds don't need a subpoena. They can buy a copy of the data.

The Already Big Thing on the Internet: Spying on Users
By ADAM COHEN

In 1993, the dawn of the Internet age, the liberating anonymity of the online world was captured in a well-known New Yorker cartoon. One dog, sitting at a computer, tells another: “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Fifteen years later, that anonymity is gone.

It’s not paranoia: they really are spying on you.