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However, there are still limits on how that power may be executed.

Yes, and when they started passing seat belt laws, they said no one would ever be pulled over just for a seat belt infraction.

Now, it's gotten so bad that the Maryland State Police have night-vision googles to see if people going by at night don't have their seat belt on.

Since I know what I could do with this data (I work with marketing databases for a living), maybe I am more concerned than the average bear as to the government having it. Especially when they ain't all that great at data mining in the first place - what if a glitch makes them think that YOU are linked to al Qaeda?

And that is assuming that they are using the data in a limited and controlled manner.

Sucks to be in Maryland, but that is a state matter and not a federal one. Here in Missouri, you do not get pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt although you can get fined if you're stopped and not wearing it. On the other side of the river, Illinois is closer to Maryland's laws but I don't think they're using NVG's! Whatever the case, I don't see the analogy fitting the circumstance since the Feds have not threatened to withhold highway funds for states that don't enforce seatbelt laws.

In addition, by your own admission stating you work with marketing data and not NSA spy program data, you are in no position to state as fact whether the Federal government is any good at data mining or not.

Unlike you I don't fear my government, but I do maintain a healthy suspicion. Much like I don't fear the rattlesnakes and water moccasins in my woods out back but certainly respect their lethality and unpredictability. That's how I choose to approach this.

And accusing me of burying my head in the sand won't mean much either. If you want to suffer paranoia, that's your business.