We may not live in a grey, bleak totalitarian dystopia as depicted in George Orwell's 1984 (despite the current Canadian Conservative government's best efforts), but we are indeed being watched by a sort of Big Brother.
As revealed by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the American government (along with the Brits) have an anti-terrorism program called Prism where tons of data is being collected about phone calls and Internet activity.
Everyone is up in arms over privacy, and it's looking like, if you've ever gotten a call from someone in the U.S. or looked up questionable things on search engines, your address and details may have been recorded and/or investigated.
But, collecting all these details, or "data mining," is nothing new, I'm sorry to say, and there are a lot more people out there doing it to you than the government.
Just take a look at your Facebook page. See all those ads on the side? Well, those ads were chosen and served up specifically for you, based on your behaviour, postings, friends, etc. Twitter also works with a data-mining company to analyze what's trending to better get inside consumers' minds.
If you've got a Gmail or Hotmail account, then some data mining is happening on your personal emails to make sure the ads served up to you are creepily appropriate. The same goes for online retailers like Amazon. They watch not only what you buy, but also what items you've browsed, so they can offer you similar products to purchase.
How about we up the "creepy" factor?
Some department stores now have mannequins with high-tech cameras hidden in their eyes, as well as computer brains, not to stop shoplifters executing the five-finger-discount, but rather to track what customers buy and even look at while shopping.
Others are now using a smartphone-tracking system to watch how customers move through stores and their browsing habits.
So, while it may be troubling that some governments are tracking certain data for anti-terrorism's sake, for me it's even more so if it's because someone's trying to swindle yet another buck out of my wallet to pad their own.
There isn't much you can do about the cyborg shopping mannequins or cell-tracking stores (you could try asking store management if you could "opt out" of the program), but there is some stuff you can do for your online privacy.
It's doubtful that you've got anything worth hiding from the FBI or CIA, comrade, but if you would like a little more Internet privacy, you could try encryption. Most major email services, like Hotmail and Gmail, offer some form of encryption and you just need to check your email's security settings for options. You can also buy your own encryption software, to secure your messages at the source, or even if you want to secure an entire laptop against theft.
For web surfing, try to use "secure sockets layer" (SSL) when given that option from a website, or sometimes just typing in "https" instead of the usual "http" will take you to a website's more secure address. Most major sites support the format.
Yes, Big Brother is out there watching, along with Big Sister, Uncle Ed and the Weird Guy in the Raincoat, but if you practice a little caution and y'know, don't try smuggling uranium or learning how to make bombs online - it shouldn't worry you too much.
