When I buy items in a supermarket, I use my shopper's card for discounts, and all of my purchases are recorded and stored.
When I buy books at B&N or Borders, I use my member's card and all of my purchases are recorded and stored.
When I use my library card, information about the books/audios/DVDs that I borrow are recorded and stored.
If I buy books from Amazon and put them on a Kindle, they already know about those books.
If I walk in any major city or into any public buildings, my image is rcorded on cameras.
My cable system has a record of every TV show or movie I access.
My ISP has a record of all the web sites I visit.
Hotel bonus points cards ensure that all of my out-of-state visits are recorded.
And that's not even considering all the information that can be gleaned from my credit card records.
If I want to leave this country, I'm entered in databases.
There's a record of every legitimate job I've had in Social Security's database.
I have a cell phone, OnStar, and an EZ Pass device affixed to my windshield; I can be physically tracked six ways from Sunday.
Privacy is just an illusion, and has been for decades. I began to give it up when I first got a Social Security card as a teenager, and definitely lost it when I got my first credit card. A complete image of me can be created just from my data spoor. It no longer is a bugaboo for me because I refuse to be worried or ashamed about anything I do. I'm not going to restrict my life over the worry that people will know more about me that I would like them to - they already do; when I'm dead and gone it's not going to matter anyway. Information stored about me can already be used against me, may already have been - who the hell knows? So if Amazon wants to know where I place a bookmark, have at it. That's not going to stop me from getting that device if I really want one.
