Along with the George Orwell novel, you also hear the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report mentioned. In that movie, you see commercials changing according to the person watching. Yes, I think we are watched by companies more and more. But you also have to realize that the information they gather about our activities and habits, our location and our movements, is also available to the government.
For example, provisions in the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act give companies the ability to share information without obtaining consent in connection with a lawsuit or an investigation by the authorities. That is becoming more and more frequent. My colleague Professor Geist mentioned it. We are watched by companies and the government has access to the same information. That really is worth taking into account.