But remember, data is a double edged sword.
Someone still has to mine it.
Most of that 'mining' is automated. No human decides what ads Google (etc.) will display on your browser. If the data are there, the authorities need only to ask for it, for any reason or none at all, and have it at their fingertips. It could even be offered up without asking ... a terminal could display full registration data on every car that passes by, for example, as their plates are captured by that trunk mounted camera. Just for example.
Is this America? Is this what we're all about, here? Every last one of us being constantly monitored, filed, searched, stuck in databases by the omnipresent State?
We've made a wrong turn, IMO.