Are they governed by law? I'm starting to feel that no one follows the law, or spirit of it at least, unless they have to or can write the laws themselves.

Corporations write their own laws through lobbyists and circumvent it when they can. Top secret agents don't really have anyone they are accountable to since they're so top secrete there isn't any public oversight.

For some reason the secret courts convened to check them (FISA) are just rubber stamp mills too because hey, those don't really have any oversight either.

It really doesn't seem like this stuff will get any better without a ton more oversight. It'll be interesting to see if the Japanese people are more appalled by this and more willing to stand up.