Since when did the government actually say, "hello, I'm from the government and I'm here to help?" -Paraphrased quote from Ronald Reagan.
Article is meh and doesn't surprise me. A smartphone is a marketer's wet dream come true. That is fact. Yet everyone uses these things with no knowledge of what's going on behind the scenes, etc. I walk though a park and I see everyone up to their great uncle walk around with smartphone in face not even taking in the scenery or anything. These people are literal drones.
Now I have a smartphone and I'm fully aware of what it does and how it makes constant connections to Google, Facebook et al. But I limit my user presence for the most part. I had my VPN installed, but I got new phone and have to reinstall it. And that's a whole other animal. Most people don't know all the facets of VPNs and what to look for or what to do to minimize data leakage or origin IP exposure. Most people think, yeah, this VPN is popular, I think I'll go with that! WRONG! Don't follow the stupid.
Anyway... IoT and smart TVs are another animal in this equation as well. "It's a brave new world out there. At least it better be."