I believe privacy and anonymity, in the classic sense, is over for anyone engaged in modern life. We necessarily give that up the minute we pay a bill utility bill, or get a library card, sign on to comment sites like this, or facebook, twitter, etc. Even using anonymous handles, etc., once you blink you become a node on the reality grid.

That said, if anyone was going to keep track of me, I'd rather it be Google, with their generally clear, open and generally benevolent intentions (have you SEEN how they treat their employees?) than someone like CrossPoint, Experian, or the U.S. Government.

Unfortunately, it isn't just Google, or any of the others I name, it is all of them and plenty more.

Maybe the next big thing is some way to unplug off that grid at will... but to me that looks about as likely as our government admitting it's been hiding the truth about flying saucers for 60 years.

In the headline, the phrase "off of" is redundant and is a barbarism. The AP technology writer is probably heavy on the tech and light on the "writer."