The tracking of American lives by data-collecting corporations and government agencies is already in full swing, according to Robert Scheer, editor-in-chief of Truthdig, Professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and co-host of Left, Right & Center, a weekly syndicated radio show. In order to collect data, the National Security Agency (NSA) has enlisted Silicon Valley companies to help them in their massive digital surveillance efforts. Scheer is apprehensive about the power of this new military-industrial complex as it gathers more and more information about people from phone records, credit card expenditures, lists of Social Media friends, membership in organizations, and much more.

The U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." Scheer is upset that the public is not outraged about the egregious violation of their privacy going on today. But the forces at work here are already very powerful and their message is very appealing to many patriots. After all, they tell us all this snooping is being done in the name of national security to strengthen us in the war against terrorism.