Watch out, because it's a common (and extremely dangerous) misconception that personal data abuses afflict only people who are perceived (or perceive theirselves) as criminal.
There are two reasons.
First, legal systems with an excessive power in the hands of the prosecution can take an ordinary, civil citizen, and legally rape him (this description was used some time ago on an HN article)
Second, anybody that lives a regular life has secrets to hide; this is just a fact. And that secrets will be abused if it would be instrumental to the authorities.
I've said "extremely dangerous" - why? Because data collection today is considered/perceived/felt as a big nuisance, but not much more.
In reality, it's an oppression instrument, and it's not perceived by the general population just because they're not in prominent positions towards the government.
Don't forget that even if you believe you can trust the entity collecting the information, can you trust all the persons that have access to it? Is it inconceivable to believe that people who work for the Chinese government have never sold top secret data to US officials or even corporations? Why couldn't an NSA employee do the same thing? What if the NSA's servers weren't as secure as they thought they were?
There are two reasons.
First, legal systems with an excessive power in the hands of the prosecution can take an ordinary, civil citizen, and legally rape him (this description was used some time ago on an HN article)
Second, anybody that lives a regular life has secrets to hide; this is just a fact. And that secrets will be abused if it would be instrumental to the authorities.
I've said "extremely dangerous" - why? Because data collection today is considered/perceived/felt as a big nuisance, but not much more.
In reality, it's an oppression instrument, and it's not perceived by the general population just because they're not in prominent positions towards the government.