Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because it's not a single entity following you around from place to place. Each place is keeping it's own records. If you go to Joe's house and Joe makes a note that you came to his house, then you go to Bob's house and Bob makes a note that you came to his house, nobody is stalking you. Each individual is keeping track of who visits them. That is not stalking. Yes, maybe later on, the government or someone else coul…
Courts, laws, judges look at the end game. They often do not care about hand waving, distracting red-herring type logic. This is how you get torrent sites taken down, even though they host absolutely nothing. Intent, you see, is key. And what is the intent of all of this data collection? Is it to just randomly, happen-stance note someone in passing? Or is it a dedicated, planned, targeted collection of data on indivi…
That's where all this hyperbolic "OMG they took my picture and now they have total control of my life!!1!1" hand-wringing falls flat.
I care about privacy too, but come on. It's not voodoo. If you're not going to be serious about the real risks it's hard to take seriously.
After all this discussion, I've yet to hear an explanation of the actual mechanism by which, say, Macy's having a picture of me in their store allows them to exert control over any action I might want to take.