Cookies are stored locally, on your own computer, not on their computer. As for any private info you key in at the government site, well, they have that without cookies anyway the moment you enter it.

The worry I see is in cross-pollinating info between government agencies, which they do not currently do.

In a household you have very little anonymity. "who left the bread open?" -- In a small village or town you have not much anonymity either - everyone knows everyone else's business. This lowers crime and keeps people from doing things they might if they though no one would notice.

But on a National level there is a conflict of interest on every front. You can't have an opinion without so...

Cookies are stored locally, on your own computer, not on their computer. As for any private info you key in at the government site, well, they have that without cookies anyway the moment you enter it.

The worry I see is in cross-pollinating info between government agencies, which they do not currently do.

In a household you have very little anonymity. "who left the bread open?" -- In a small village or town you have not much anonymity either - everyone knows everyone else's business. This lowers crime and keeps people from doing things they might if they though no one would notice.

But on a National level there is a conflict of interest on every front. You can't have an opinion without someone else out there having the opposite opinion. So the trouble with "Big Brother" knowing everyone's business comes with the misuse of information. For almost every good use of that information, there is going to be someone who disagrees. The best way for government to serve all it's citizens equally is to resist any move towards big brother.

Not that we haven't already given away our every secret on dozens of indexed social media sites already. Whoops!