Tech giants watch our every move online. Does that violate our human rights?

Facebook claims its data collection is inherent to the way the internet works. The internet didn't have to be this way

It's a quintessential experience of the digital age: you're scrolling through Facebook, or reading an article online, and suddenly get served with an advertisement so narrowly targeted to a passing interest, secret desire, or undisclosed medical condition that you find yourself looking over your shoulder, shuddering, and asking yourself: "How did they know?"

While most of us have learned to shrug off our unease at these creepy encounters, a new report by Amnesty International made the bold case this week that we need to stop accepting the status quo and start seeing it for what it really is: a violation of our human rights "on an unprecedented scale" perpetrated by two American companies, Facebook and Google.