Apparently my point was too obtuse. What I am trying to say is that most surveillance is done legally, or just outside the lines enough to be forgiven by the blue line (in whatever country). My presumption is that the populous (us) _should be voting for spying like this to simply be illegal_, which is a topic that hardly ever comes up.

Let me try again: Spying from government to its citizens should be flatly illegal, and until we demand as much, we are failing our own democratic system and sliding per notch into turnkey totalitarianism.*

*not intended as hyperbole -- we are a long way from it, but the notches are undeniable