Link by Link - As Data Collecting Grows, Privacy Erodes - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check – see the full article for details

The way Mr. Rodriguez’s positive steroid test result became public followed a path increasingly common in the computer age: third-party data collection. We are typically told that personal information is anonymously tracked for one reason — usually something abstract like making search results more accurate, recommending book titles or speeding traffic through the toll booths on the thruways. But it is then quickly converted into something traceable to an individual, and potentially life-changing.

Link by Link - As Data Collecting Grows, Privacy Erodes - NYTimes.com