We hear the right wing fanatics talk about the importance of freedom, while at the same time they acquiesce to gross violations of privacy in the name of security, or misguided and fanatical views on morality.
What is freedom? Freedom rests on the ability of the individual to do as he goddamn pleases as long as his or her actions do not violate the rights of others. And the right to privacy is one of the main pillars of freedom.
There is an endemic level of corruption across the entire country, in the form of corporatist cartels having control over corrupt politicians. As the corruption continues to spread and take hold, these corporate neo-fascist cartels (i.e., ALEC, U.S. Chamber of Commerce) collude with bought-off corrupt politicians in the imposition of increasingly blatant violations of our rights to privacy, and hence, freedom.
What we have now is an aberration; it's not normal.
What would a free man or woman be like? Imagine this... We start with the individual. As a free person, all your papers, your belongings, your actions, proclivities, entertainment activities, are all private. In any given situation, you will disclose only what's absolutely necessary to conduct a "transaction," be it with another person, a business, a government agency, or an employer.
By and large, that information may include your name, possibly, an ID (if you are writing a check or using a credit card), possibly phone number, and in some occasions, your address.
No entity should have the right to compile information about you, and store it into a database, and then use that information to create a profile for the purpose of advertising, employment, government services, etc.
An employer should only have access to information that's absolutely necessary for employment. For example, that information could include your name, ID, address, phone number, education, employment history, and criminal record (if you have been convicted of a crime).
The same goes for any other entity, including government agencies.
Regarding employment, as long as you are able to perform the duties you were hired to do competently, that's all an employer should be concerned with. It's a business transaction; the employer gets the benefit of the labor you perform, and you get payment for that labor. That's it; not more complicated than that.
What you choose to do in your free time, as long as it is not a clear violation of the law, is nobody's business. The activities are endless... You may go to church, or a swingers sex club, or a nudist colony, or a picnic, or the beach, a concert, art classes, camping, travel, a seminar, a retreat, a writing class, a political protest, etc.
You can do whatever goddamn pleases you in the privacy of your home (as long as you are not breaking the law).
That is true freedom. That's what a free man or woman would look like. As the corporatist neo-fascist hegemony continues to exert its influence and control on society--mainly through the control it has over money-grabbing politicians--we are losing our freedoms at a faster and faster pace.
If you acquiesce to any entity being able to collect, save, analyse, and create a personal profile about you, you are agreeing to your own enslavement.
Again, the only time any entity, be it law enforcement, the government, employers, have any right to put restrictions on you is if you violate the law and become a criminal. As long as you are a law-abiding citizen, you can do whatever pleases you and nobody has any right to put restrictions on you, or take actions against you based on a profile that has been collected.