Relying simply on voting and politicians to solve the problem of mass surveillance is just passing the buck.

The problem is more technical than political. It is a problem of internet architecture and design which must be addressed from within by technologists.

Currently, only a handful of ISPs and Internet Gatekeepers (i.e. Google, Facebook) have ultimate control over the majority of information flow.

If all you have to do is tap a few wires at key choke points (i.e. Room 641a) or hack into a server at FB or Google to own billions of users then that is like marching rank and file into machine gun fire on a global scale.