It's Not The Government

Interesting conversational material tonight.  The question was why we are so freaked about about giving our social security number, etc., to the government with the fear that they are spying on our every move is unfounded.  The government issued that information to you already.  There is strict protocol on how personal, identifying information is stored and used.  It's not the government you should fear...

It's Google and other private businesses that collect personal information and package it for sale.

In order for the government to collect information that we are all so paranoid about would require breaching several layers of bureaucracy.  Anybody who works within the government structure knows that certain departments do not communicate with others for that very fear of one gaining too much control.  The "government" would require warrants for information that entities like Google collect free of rules and restrictions and control.  See, corporations do not adhere to the same privacy rules that the government does despite the fact that we all are fed to believe otherwise. 
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The other interesting tidbit of conversation tonight is that the United States does not have a media that is  public owned and operated unlike the United Kingdom with the BBC and Canada as immediate examples.  While I can understand the arguments of a "government" owned and operated media as being a propaganda machine, the thought of a corporation propaganda machine is much more frightening as profits are the ultimate goal.  No wonder our news media is filled with fear and horror.  It sells.  Profits.  The corporation answers to shareholders.  The government, no matter how oppressive or messed up, ultimately answers to the people.