I said when the unPatriot Act came out it wasn't to stop terrorism but was going to be used by corporations to spy on us.
The interesting thing here is it's a two way street. The corporations do the dirty work government isn't allowed to do in exchange for the state looking the other way while they profit massively selling the info. It's win/win situation.
It's capitalism at it's worst, exploiting a legal grey area for profit and influence.
AKA 'corporatism'.