what possible bad consequences can there be
Doesn't need to be any, IMO - the simple fact that I don't want to have my private actions broadcast for public consumption should be enough.
Nevertheless, wouldn't it be cool to know the CEO of Siglent had spent 4 hours reading that topic and
not said anything at all in there. Thing of the implications the more rabid in that topic could make out of that.
Would you mind if the neighbourhood watch chap followed you with a camera as you leave your house, broadcasting to all the other residents all your actions in the road, the way you put out your rubbish, which garden you tip your cat's mess into, etc. You wouldn't stand for that, would you? Yet the same thing electronically is fine.
Plus, big privacy or security transgressions don't happen in a single jump. They ratchet up, so you get used to a slight transgression that isn't really that bad, and then it's a bit more and a bit more, and before you know it it's quite normal for what would have been a huge problem previously. Don't believe me? Look at the shitstorm that Phorm created, yet even worse stuff is the norm now. We are oblivious and happy that the likes of Google mine our data and know more about us than our partners do. It is not that long ago that the bloody Stasi had wet dreams about being able to do a fraction of what Google achieves, you know. What happened to make it alright? People thinking "How bad could this very minor thing actually be" and the ratchet effect doing the rest, is what.