Eli5 why is the government collecting metadata or online information in general a terrible thing?

Question

I understand people will go far lengths to protect their privacy but with the internet once you have a email they probably have a good idea about you already, and unless you are doing something with malicious intent the government probably (hopefully) doesn’t really care, so why is it such a huge thing?

In: 22

Answer 1

What you don’t understand is what they can track, extrapolate, predict, and influence with that data.

I will keep recommending this documentary on Netflix : The Great Hack. It’s about a company called Cambridge Analytica