[tim333]

>The harms of mass commercial surveillance were never hard to foresee.

I don't think I've ever been harmed by this stuff. Google no doubt knows a lot about me as I use their stuff and I imagine they'd show me a targeted ad if I didn't have an ad blocker but not much harm there really?

Has any Google user been actually harmed like that?

[fsflover]

It doesn't harm individuals, unless you speak against the government and they don't like you. Then you are in trouble, since it becomes very easy to find you or find something against you. This is how it harms the freedom of speech and democracy. Everyone should have privacy to protect the activists and journalists. It’s sort of like freedom of speech is necessary not just for journalists, but for everyone, even if you have nothing to say.

Well, actually it does harm individuals by forcing them to buy something they didn't want to buy through targeted ads. Examples: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45565346

[tim333]

I will give you the near monopoly on things like advertising pushes up the prices of things like hotels as they have to give a percentage to Google and similar.