Given a tiny bit of knowledge on big data systems ……

• assume everything accessible is being copied, encrypted or not, kept forever
• there are continuous processes making links to people places times, and connecting the internet to real world data
• when someone wants to search for something, like uses the term “mango Mussolini “, it pretty quickly finds the set of all communications
• then you can further refine it “and lives in the dc area”, and end up with a list of people
• then you have ready links to clever where they’ve posted, everything they’ve said, every person they’ve connected with online or in real life
• and if you have encrypted data, can choose to brute force it (some will have to wait for technology)

It really no longer makes sense to wonder if they’re watching Lemmy. There’s no reason to pick specific places to watch when they can just collect everything, store it, then take their time searching for connections