The NSA Doesn't Worry Me...

... But, private industry is starting to give me the creeps.

Think back to my Labor Day/ Birthday post and my story about Google greeting me with my very own birthday "Google Doodle."

It caught me by surprise, but I get how it was done.

Blogspot is a Google property. So, I'm logged on to Google's system when I post.

No mystery, here.

Now, file that story at the front of your mind and hang on for this one...

I do business with Amazon.com, now and then.

Not very often.

Nothing against them. I'm just more of a "brick and mortar" kind of guy.

I think the last book I bought from them was a pre-order of the last Harry Potter.

The last time I bought anything from them was nearly two years ago, when I bought my mother-in-law a hand mixer.

Years ago, I bought Mrs. Blog a couple of romance novels by her favorite author. I bought some of my son's college textbooks from them.

And, like my Tivo™ suggestion folder or Facebook's ad matrix, Amazon sometimes gets my preferences hilariously wrong.

It doesn't surprise me that, to this day, I get email ads from Amazon suggesting that I might want to buy the latest bodice rippers, computer programing manuals or small kitchen appliances.

I never take them up on their offers, but they don't get the message.

But, this morning, I got a "suggestion" ad from Amazon that made me wonder...

"How the hell did they get this one?"

It began...

"Hi, (The Blog's real name),

Are you looking for something in our comedy department? If so, you might be interested in these items."

Here is what followed...

If you have been reading this blog for more than a week, you get why this is so freaky.

Are Amazon, Google, YouTube, iTunes and Facebook all talking to each other?

I think that they might be.

Which brings us to this...

Has the corporate media convinced you that the NSA is spying on you, directly?

Because, they're not.

The NSA is asking the phone companies, internet service providers, retailers, etc. to share what they already know about you.

And that is an awful lot.

The government isn't "Big Brother." Free market, corporate America is.

The government is just tagging along.

Pardon me while I put on my tin-foil hat.

Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't watching you.