In a High-Tech World, I Spy, You Spy, We Spy

The New Hampshire dad figures the allegations of HP prying into private phone records, tailing board members and sending computer spyware to reporters are just examples of how America has become a society of snoops.

"There's probably more surveillance than anyone is aware of. It's just a fact of life," said Pawlick, who himself has resorted to a little spy craft, installing a tracking device on the car of his teenage stepdaughter. "These things don't surprise us anymore."

At a time when your bank tracks how and where you spend every dime, the federal government might be listening to your phone calls and your boss almost surely knows how many minutes you spend on EBay, the notion of personal privacy is changing fast.

HP's scandal highlights how conflicted those notions can be, in the same way people tsk-tsk at the invasive tactics of paparazzi as they thumb through the supermarket tabloids.

"The public has a double standard," technology futurist Paul Saffo said, noting that it's difficult for people to get riled up when someone else's privacy is under attack, particularly if it makes for interesting reading.

At the same time, though, "we take it for granted we're being watched," Saffo said. "We all know we're being watched, but we assume no one who's watching us cares."

To be sure, there's a vast legal and ethical chasm between a parent electronically monitoring a child's behavior and a giant corporation such as HP hiring detectives to follow people around or pose as someone to gain access to their private phone records. That latter practice is known as "pretexting."

The lengths to which HP went may have crossed ethical and legal lines -- California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer is weighing criminal indictments and the FBI is investigating -- but spying has become part of modern life. And it's not just the big guys playing James Bond.

Women Google prospective dates. Neighbors check what the house next door sold for on Zillow.com. People use online satellite imagery to sneak a peek into the backyards of the rich and famous. Hidden nanny cams record baby sitters. More than 75% of employers monitor what their workers do on the job -- and more than a third record every computer keystroke.