Explain, and while you do, remember that "slippery slope" is a logical fallacy.
I think we both know that breaches of sensitive and private data are a real danger and aren't some abstract, theoretical possibility that never happens. They happen all the time. Aggregation of personal data is dangerous by virtue of existence, without even touching the moral issue of whether it's ethical to try to spy into people's lives and habits for whatever reason.
Knowledge is power. And knowing almost everything about a person is one of the most dangerous weapons I can think of. Even more dangerous is that most people do not even realize how dangerous that is. They are either unaware of it, or worse, willfully ignorant.
If there were more of an "opt-in" mindset to doing such collecting, the situation would be a bit more balanced. I agree visiting a site and consuming its content while demanding the site gets nothing out of it is not balanced. But why can't we meet somewhere in the middle, with more transparency on what is being taken, and more permission asking for taking.
My instinctual response to that is to ask if I can watch you the next time you go to the bathroom, or have sex.
STASI
And that's the connection made when I specifically request an argument that's not slippery slope.
And I'm downvoted for specifically requesting a valid argument. Thank you, HN, or should I say, Reddit Lite.
Easily said, Tony, as a white male living in America. Some of us actually lived behind the Iron Curtain, and secret police and antagonistic governments aren't "magical" and hypothetical to us.