It's been over a decade since the Snowden revelations. We know full well that the large tech companies collect massive amounts of your personal data and secretly share it all with the US government. Not requests, not occasionally, not some - everything. And there are even formal mechanisms for this, like National Security Letters, which essentially guarantee silence.

So, why are we seeing articles like this, which raise suspcision that maybe a wearable smart-device company _might_ be sharing _some_ data, _sometimes_? Or expectations of voluntary transparency?

Yes, the government spies on you. Not because you're important, but because they spy on everybody. It's cheap, convenient and has no negative political consequences (so far).

References:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_letter

* https://www.pcmag.com/news/the-10-most-disturbing-snowden-re...