Biometric data relates to the unique biological characteristics of every individual. It is used in security, such as the collection of fingerprints for police reports, as well as in day-to-day life. An example is the common feature of smartphones that unlock based on facial recognition. Such aspects of biometric data do not necessarily impose danger unless the information becomes public or is acquired by entities with the intent to violate basic privacy rights. A media example is the film The Dark Knight, where the main character meets the dilemma of catching the criminal by violating the privacy of the population through facial recognition or risk not preventing the crimes.
Another nuanced surveillance technique is the use of social media, specifically monitoring the posts of an individual deemed dangerous with the purpose of gaining information. Thus, agencies such as ICE can monitor the threads of activists or protestors publicly speaking against specific immigration laws. In this case, an online post can become a valid reason for ICE to request further investigation and access to private data such as private messages or deleted content. As a result, a comment on Facebook becomes data that agencies can use to determine the threat an individual imposes on their organization, activity, or policies that they are to follow.
Online interactions also facilitate data that can be interpreted differently. An example of such interactions is commenting on a thread of a forum and engaging with other users. Another interaction is directly chatting with the support of a certain website to fix a problem. However, sending messages to a bot cannot be considered an interaction since only one physical person engages in the conversation, which does not imply the presence of a dialogue.