I think a lot of people who say they have nothing to hide are not thinking about this properly. I'm not going to go into too much detail because I feel like this thread has been completely derided, but...
The way personal data is treated over here (and probably elsewhere) is quite shocking. For example, I can think of numerous times that entire truckloads of personal data (medical records etc.) have gone missing en-route, public leaks and breeches etc. etc. With the amount of this stuff that's happened recently, people should be considerably more worried than they are about the fact that huge troves of data about them are being kept. One day it will be breeched, mark my words.
While this is quite worrying in itself, consider the nature of the data. While no content is present (or so we're led to believe. I should also point out that GCHQ are doing a similar thing on us UK citizens which *does* involve content), all the stuff is there to paint a pretty good picture of who you are and what kind of things are happening in your life. I'd love to say we live in a perfectly accepting world, but the truth is we don't - there's an awful lot of inequality. Visit questionable websites regularly? Have a profile on a homosexual dating website? Visited a rehabilitation center for a drug addiction? If this data is leaked, companies *will* get hold of it, and they *will* discriminate and block you from many future jobs, regardless of if it was all in the past or not - as far as they're concerned, you are an undesirable individual who doesn't fit with their corporate ethos. I'm not a tin foil hat kind of guy, but it's not entirely unreasonable that other companies have access to such information already. Obviously this is an extreme example, but saying you have nothing to hide really means nothing. It will affect everybody in some shape or form.
Hopefully this won't earn me a slap.
