If you think the long-form census is pushy for asking you how many bedrooms are in your house, imagine someone knowing the exact colour of the IKEA sheets you're thinking of buying for your bed.
Indeed, a variety of players - including state security agencies to Internet marketers to organized-crime circles - are creating an online world in which the very concept of anonymity has basically vanished.
Join the Globe's Technology Reporter Omar El Akkad Monday at 2p.m. EST for a live discussion on privacy and the Internet.