Also, the fear of terrorism is pretty effective way of keeping masses in check and tricking them into giving up their freedom.

That's exactly why United States started all those wars in Middle East in the last two decades: without Iraq and Afghanistan, and now Syria there would be no terrorism, and no excuse to pass the "Patriotic Act" and other surveillance laws. Of course, other factors also mattered, but this seems to be most important of all.

But, unfortunately the general public rarely thinks about the consequences and trade offs of increased surveillance powers.