Fears and phobias never helped coping with reality.

The stream of data that we and our environments create(d) is an reality since the moment we made them digital (vs. analog) and started processing them with computers. As soon as you are able to process the data you are often just one switch / flag away to also store it.

When telephone systems and backbones started to become digital on a broader scale in the 1990, the at that time already existing surveillance or data collection expanded massively because data became accessible and usable on a large scale. First huge processing farms were built for the FBI, NSA ea. and the congress appropriated hundreds of millions for them. For the next version of those server farms U.S. congress already provided dozens of billions 4-5 years ago. Follow the money and you can find out since when this is going on.

With every step our world is becoming more digital these "virtual images" of us will become more complete and we will become more dependent on them. Ask yourself how often you are still using a paper map today vs 10 years ago, soon there will be a generation of people living that will only navigate with digital maps and GPS leaving a trace of their every movements - for them it will be the norm and they will not know another way. If you prefer a more positive image think about people living with a heart disease and how many of them will survive because of 24/7 surveillance.

One key element with all that data often overlooked is that once we depend on it within many areas of our lives, falsification of "data elements" or blocking access to "data services" has substantial impact on the person herself. Thinking about finding a new job so that you can pay your rent - almost every step within that is already digital. And faking email conversations, phone interviews etc today only requires limited resources for "someone" having mandatory access to the mail servers and internet infrastructure. Putting incriminating material on computers of your business / political / life "opponents" might already be a drag and click activity for some of those. Falsificating / sabotaging financial transactions have been reported from various political activists since years and are for years already part of Hollywood folklore / films. In short - soon "some" will be able to completely change our real lives by "working the data" - if we are economically successful, whom we meet, what we think about others / products / politics, if we die from diseases or not...

It would be too easy to say that what happens with all the data about us, our activities and interactions is a matter of what society we are living in, if it's a true democracy with civil rights or an oppressive state. This per se is an illusion. It is denying how the majority of people are living their lives, they want to be part of a community, be safe, have no problems, enjoy incentives (or things you can buy). And it is denying how governments work, because the sole existence of such a feedback / control / surveillance / oppression mechanism is changing society itself and the way we are governed.

Think along the lines - what can be done will be done. And if powers of "some" in our societies continue to be expanded day-after-day - it certainly will.