>Personally, I'm now concerned about what I say in email, in text messages, in discussion forums, and in telephone calls. I fear that if I use the wrong words or visit the wrong websites, I'll trigger some automated system and will be put on some kind of watch list that will change my life.

well, if you read Stanislav Lem, you'd immediately see that not using "wrong" words and not visiting "wrong" sites may also be a trigger - like "this guy is deliberately trying to stay under radar, why? what he is hiding/planning?" If you try to behave following average pattern for your demographics, you may trigger another one - "he is trying to blend in" :) You can't win that game for the simple reason that the game rules are decided upon strictly after your moves had already been made.

You see, the issue isn't extra collection of data by government - this is already lost cause due to technological progress, the main issue is the ability of government to oppress using that data, ie. absence of due process.