You make a very good point that the private sector can also play fast and loose with our personal information, but theoretically there are legal restraints on this. Theoretically.

I am fully aware that when I buy gas in Nevada with my credit card, I have put a pin in a map somewhere if someone cares to look hard enough. Also what I buy at Safeway is stored up somewhere. As yet, I have not worried unduly about this, since I still have a choice if I want to take it. Pay cash for things. Don't use the Safeway card. It's when the choice disappears that I really get concerned.

And unlike the government, with the private sector I usually get that choice. Bill Gates, one of the richest men in America, can't keep me from putting Linux on my computer. Unless, of course, he gets the government to do his dirty work. Gates used to be non-political, until the Clinton administration clued him in as to who has the real power in this country. I think I liked him better that way.