John Naughton:

The idea that being watched on this scale isn’t affecting our behaviour is implausible, to put it mildly. Throughout history, surveillance has invariably had a chilling effect on freedom of thought and expression. It affects, for example, what you search for. After the Snowden revelations, traffic to Wikipedia articles on topics that raise privacy concerns for internet users decreased significantly.

I love the term “surveillance capitalism” as it is very apt. His post is worth your time if you are among the many who think Google and Facebook tracking your every move isn’t “that big of a deal”.