Someone suggested that back in the Alexa thread,maybe yourself, and it was pointed out that it wasn't so much what they knew because,as you say..who cares (well many do,actually) whether an organisation knows you enjoy scuba diving , model aircraft building/flying, home cooking,going to the theatre..whatever as the fact that they were being monitored or spied on. Someone questioned the use of the term 'spied on' saying it was emotive and then, I'm sure it was Cobra who came back with, " if it's not spying what is it ? " No point in resurrecting all those arguments but there's another issue.Data appropriation and without compensation/payment, call it what you will. Company A gathers data on you and here's the rub..,sells it. It's a very lucrative activity. In that Panorama programme about Amazon they pointed out that what made Jeff Bezos stand apart from others and become so successful was his recognition that the most valuable asset was personal data. You are,infact being exploited. Whether that is of concern to someone is a different issue. Seems there's a trade off between having personal data collected and convenience which is a point you made..ie targeted sales. ads. Basically,it's a moral issue and until it's classed as theft and can be dealt with by law then it's status quo.
Perhaps the answer lies inbetweeen. Regulation, not on what data is collected but the use of it.
The 2018 GDPR EU legislation applies to the whole of Europe,I assume whether a country is a member of the EU or not ..that's my understanding and it's an ongoing project.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/what-is-gdpr-uk-eu-legislation-compliance-summary-fines-2018
Mark Zuckerberg's response
https://thenextweb.com/facebook/201...on-users-from-europes-data-privacy-standards/