The Sad State of Privacy

It is used to be -- and until not that long ago -- that the phrase "in the privacy of your own home" meant something.
When Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau stated some 45 years ago that, "The government has no business in the bedrooms of the nation," he meant that Canada's laws were not designed to encourage spying on its citizens.

You could enjoy the quiet use of your home by not making loud noises, by not kicking your dog or cat, or by pulling down the shades — and that was about it!
<--- Image: 'Spy vs. Spy' -- Prohias) Today, we have to be aware at all times that someone might be spying on us:
-- The camera on the top of my computer or smart phone screen might be relaying my portrait.
-- My household's electronic gear -- computer, TV, or even refrigerator -- might be sending data to be collected overseas.
-- Someone may be looking in my window, using strong binoculars.
-- Someone else might be bombarding my window with the electronic signals.
— The global banking system might be examining my purchase and credit history.
— Someone might be checking my household garbage and green bags, (or, gasp!) peering through my clear bags at the curbside on Friday mornings, to glean my diet habits or financial details.
(If I haven't taken the time and trouble to shred these documents.)
And I might not have gotten out of bed yet!
When I DO get up, my coffee machine and toothbrush might be betraying my diet and hygiene habits.
After I leave my house, I step into the range of outdoor cameras, drone cameras and dashcams!
Don't laugh, Dear Reader, I am not getting paranoid: a lot of this stuff is already going on.
Just today, I have received e-mail articles (from reliable sources, such as komando.com and about.com) on this topic, including:
-- '10 Best ways to guard your online privacy;'
-- 'Avoiding unnecessary forms;'
-- 'Cleaning the search history by logging out of search engines (after you have finished using them);'
-- 'Five worst tech ripoffs and how to avoid them;'
-- 'Pyramid scheme's are dominating Facebook;'
-- 'Watching your downloads;'
-- Guarding your private information;' and, generally,
-- 'Using common sense!'
Then, the are Phishing scams, the periennial 'Nigerian princes' scams, and the dreaded, 'How to make Google forget your searches.'
Maybe my e-mail box is being hacked -- again!
It happened a couple of years ago: suddenly, scam messages had been sent to EACH of my several hundred contacts.
For me, the remedial tasks were quite time-consuming:
Get it to stop, then clean out the hack, delete all the COPIES of the messages (which the hacker had kindly saved for me), and send an apology message to each contact, with an alert to what had happened.
(Many folks, who had already been through this drill, thanked me, adding that they had noted that the messages 'hadn't sounded like you.')