Whenever anybody trivializes surveillance or says it's "just a small amount of logging", they need to be reminded that mass surveillance has already done significant damage in the form of this chilling effect. Even more worrying are the reporters who have discussed the impact the chilling effect has had on their ability to function as a proper journalist.
> potentially questionable keywords
Keywords aren't even the problem; the inferences - legitimate or not - that can be found with modern data analysis techniques and machine learning practically guarantee we will see people being wrongly accused or otherwise affected. This much data is an endless arena for the human tendency to interpret[1] data until they see whatever they want to see. If search a bunch of web histories looking for problems, you will find something.
Oh and this problem is why some of us have a strong reaction against any kind of tracking, especially ad networks. Facebook/Google/etc are just as worrying, and accessing their data simply requires a national security letter (or UK equivalent).
> potentially questionable keywords
Keywords aren't even the problem; the inferences - legitimate or not - that can be found with modern data analysis techniques and machine learning practically guarantee we will see people being wrongly accused or otherwise affected. This much data is an endless arena for the human tendency to interpret[1] data until they see whatever they want to see. If search a bunch of web histories looking for problems, you will find something.
Oh and this problem is why some of us have a strong reaction against any kind of tracking, especially ad networks. Facebook/Google/etc are just as worrying, and accessing their data simply requires a national security letter (or UK equivalent).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia