I actually don´t mind being spied on for market purposes. I do not do anything illegal and have no skeletons in the closet so I don´t care if my operator knows where I am or who I talk to if the benefits of having a mobile outweigh the loss of privacy.

I have a market loyalty card but always forget to take it with me when going shopping, and I´m not a loyal customer. Even if I were, I don´t think I would mind somebody I don´t know knowing when my period is.

I sign online petitions with my real name but I never give home address or other details to sites other than shopping ones, and I have one email that I use for registering to sites and one that is my private official one.

That is the problem.....Look at what you said? You don´t do anything illegal...like as if anyone who wants privacy is doing something shady, or illegal. Just the fact you want privacy is enough to cause suspicion. It´s not about doing illegal or shady things, it´s about being private. It´s nobody´s business what I do in my private life.

Maybe I´m working on an idea that I may want to patent, or copyrwrite. Maybe I have a secret like of something I´d rather not everyone know....what ever it is, it´s my business and nobody elses´, unless I willingly divulge it.  Artists are very secretive in their creative process, particularly when working out an "idea". You should have seen the studios where different dancers were working on their choreography.....their special "bits". The release of new designs by the haute couture designers.....top secret.

I prefer to reveal myself in my own way. People´s lives can even be endangered by what is "thought to be known" about others when inacurate conclusions are come to by what it thought to be known about people.

This constant tracking of everything we do is annoying. I sometimes talk with elders (people in their 80´s+) who are shocked at the lack of privacy accepted by the youth of today.

Unless there is strong probable cause...no such searches (spying) should be done...the US 4th amendment It comes down to the question do we have a right to privacy?

Here is an interesting article on that matter...

I am thinking if US gov has enough power and tools to do the big brothering. Wouldnt it be boring and waste of money to spy on DD, alameda and lemon?

....

That´s exactly my point lemon, I mean, i have no idea if Alameda´s life is as boring as mine, but I´m pretty sure nobody would like to spy on me (but for my Mum but that´s another story ). That´s why i don´t mind being spied on - au contraire, i believe monitoring increases my safety, cctv systems may help to identify who stole my bag in a shop or where my stolen car went. People distributing child pornography have often been caught only because of their online searches, the same for people visiting dodgy sites or inciting hatered on the Internet.

If you´re concerned for privacy, don´t use the Internet, if you´re an artist, I can´t imagine why you would put your rehearsals online or post an idea you want to patent. you wouldn´t publish it in a newspaper, would you? Internet is like a global message board - there´s plenty of messages, ads and discussions - and it´s up to you what you pin up there.

Sure, there have been numerous cases where people published other people´s private things online (like intimate videos on youtube), which resulted in suicide. But these things are prosecutable (is that a word?)

I´m not saying that people who protect their privacy do something illegal, but most of us would not interest anybody with our lives even if we wanted to. I understand the American praise of individualism and making everyone believe they´re unique and special. it´s simply not true. Most of us are boringly alike and even Bollywood would not buy our lifestory...

Hegel said something which could be instrumental in reaching a verdict about governments´ use of new opportunities offered by technology to gather information on their subjects:

"... the State ´has the supreme right against the individual, whose supreme duty is to be a member of the State... for the right of the world spirit is above all special priveleges.´"

Now you might say, ours is a capitalist regime and we are in favour of personal freedoms. Yet, behind the curtains, there is an ever existing tendency which dwells upon the true nature of humans which is utterly selfish and highly opportunistic as per explained by Hegel.

We can continue quoting from Hegel, he famously proposed that all processes follow a THESIS & ANTITHESIS clash. It is stated that terrorist activity could serve an antithesis of a government policy. Through the clash of these strings of theses and antitheses a SYNTHESIS is reached. When that syntheses comes about, a discernable progress will have been accomplished only to be eroded by further clashes between new pairs of thesis and antithesis.

That the governments tend to act like big brothers at times of conflict and chaos must be associated with the interaction between thesis and antithesis. Remember the cold war era, the two mighty nations closed their doors to one another and advocated two entirely different political systems. When the clash between their theses was over, Russia emerged as a fast growing capitalist economy and the US, once the land of freedom turned into a nation dominated by xenophobic ideals. Don´t take offense at these words, I believe the US is still way more liberal than many other countries.

...but for a better world, the US must be the champion of freedom not that of ethnic or religious hatred...

Well I can help the system find out one thing about us all if they are spying on anyone here: We are here to learn turkish/english or help others learn... hence it´s called turkishclass.com ...  what moron would really spy on someone when they realise they are a member of a particular site when the site so obviously states what it´s for :/

Si++ this is not news!!! It goes on in every country in the world - its just that some countries are more "up front" about it.

Most people think that only serious national threats are an excuse for surveillance, but (shockingly) it is surprisingly easy for people to spy on you for very little reason.  For example, in the UK, every local authority (Council) has powers to monitor all activity from your IP address (including your emails) for the most lame reasons, i.e. fly tipping, attending a school that is not in your area etc.  However, phone lines are considered a bit more private and only police and the home office may listen to them.  Even so, every single phone call made (mobile or land line) and every text message sent is recorded (although not listened to unless for a reason).

People in the UK may be shocked to discover the UK rules on such things:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_of_Investigatory_Powers_Act_2000

If you feel strongly about it, you are entitled, under the Freedom of Information Act, to ask for a list of people that your local council has spyed on, who authorised it, and the reason why.  You would be amazed at the results!!!

I agree with you Alameda.  If you are ever in the position of discovering, say, wrong doing or illegal activity from someone in a position of power, it is very scary to find out that you are being investigated in this way, simply because that person has the power to do so.

I speak from experience ...

 Totally agree. and thank you for bringing thesis and antithesis. Wonderful post!