Big Brother and TiVo are watching you

BIG BROTHER AND TIVO ARE WATCHING YOU
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Here's a 21st century twist on a conspiracy theorist's adage: Just because you're paranoid, that doesn't mean you're not being followed electronically. News outlets have brimmed with tales of websites, cable TV companies, Internet service providers and even the government quietly monitoring what you do and say. It's all supposedly for your own good, in ways large (protecting you from terrorist sleeper cells) or minute (showing you advertisements that might be less irritating). The monitoring may also serve to fatten someone else's wallet. In any case, it's galling how little the monitored masses have to say in the matter. The government's scrutiny may prove to be vital to national security. Yet it would be easier to accept if the courts were peering over the Bush administration's shoulder, preventing the National Security Agency from indiscriminately gathering data on Internet use in the hope of finding a needle of suspicious activity within the haystack of mundane chatting and browsing. Otherwise, the notion that the NSA might be monitoring e-mails and page views isn't comforting; it's creepy.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-privacy17mar17,1,...
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