Tracking in the Holidays

In keeping with the Black Friday theme I thought I'd take a look at consumer tracking in retail. Over the past few weeks we have established that there is a pervasive system just beyond the average consumer's sight that tracks everything they do online, in stores, on their phones, etc. This system is working harder than ever this holiday season building an ever more expansive profile on everyone it can. At least until it decides you are waster and not worth sending a "good" deal to.
The prevalence of computing devices allows those who track us all to follow us from the first ad until we finally purchase something. The long click. The proof that the current system is working on the average citizen. Its disconcerting to know that companies keep track of every loggable action they can. The only silver lining is that people are becoming aware of this persistent tracking. Snowden and the NSA have brought the possibility that we are living in a surveillance state into the public psyche. Where once, people thought the government only tracked suspected individuals they have discovered that anyone could be under surveillance at anytime.
In the few conversations I have had about consumer tracking, being able to liken it to the programs that the NSA has put in  place has really helped move the conversation past the technically details and the "what" of the problem and into the consequences that these programs could have on our society. How the biggest danger of these programs is in how few people are actually aware of the fact that this is going on. That the ads they see in TV, online, on their phones, and in print may actually be targeted at them. That they do not received the same deals that their neighbors get, how the ads show what advertisers actually think of them and their worth as consumers.
I hope that the real legacy of Snowden's reveal is that the public are more aware of the agencies and organizations that keep track of them and what that information really them. Targeted advertising isn't bad in and of itself, but coupled with the general ignorance of tracking that most consumers has there is the potential to change people's perceptions of themselves. Without them every knowing.