Here in the US, we've recently become aware that the government (that is, the National Security Agency) is collecting metadata on every phone call made in the US.

It's unclear the extent to which the NSA is also collecting information about other forms of electronic communications such as emails, tweets, text messages, web browsing habits, etc..

Many people seem to be OK with this if it can help the government detect possible terrorist activities.  Others are calling for more transparency and less secrecy with respect to government policies for conducting electronic surveillance of its citizens (and others).

Now we have the Internet of Things, which proposes that all of our everyday devices should be connected to the Internet.   It's not hard to imagine that the possibilities for additional surveillance are increased when all our devices are networked and talking to each other.

Before I'm going to allow my bathroom scale to talk to my refrigerator, I want to know whether the government might be listening in.  If the government can override my personal privacy preferences in the name of safety or national security, I'd like to know about it.  If we're going to have an Internet of Things, I'd call for the same transparency with respect to government surveillance policies that may exist for interconnected consumer devices that I believe should exist for other kinds of electronic surveillance of citizens that the government may feel is necessary.