[aestetix]

I partly agree with you. I think that some of this technology is intrusive, and that there isn't nearly enough transparency around what the "intelligence" agencies do.

That said, I'd like to see a lot more attention to data brokers like Axciom, Transunion, and Equifax. While having an enemy like the NSA is sharp and simple to understand, having loan applications and other things mysteriously denied is far more menacing to me. That and the fact that unlike the intelligence agencies, there is almost no data privacy protection for people around data brokers.

[tgragnato]

The current state of affairs led me to believe that there's no big difference between data brokers and intelligence agencies from a citizen/sw_user perspective: they use shading techniques to extort and intercept data about people, from people, giving them to other people, for unclear and/or deplorable aims.

Terrorism and marketing are two reasons looking for a question, the reality is that who's doing this wants the power that comes with knowledge, and there's absolutely no difference between an intelligence agency and a data broker in this.