I would be fine with thorough surveillance for the sake of security if leaders were ethical and the public was wise. Unfortunately, leaders are unethical and the public is foolish.
Politicians are ambitious manipulators and the job's first prerequisite is to be a smiling liar. Then there are police, military, and intelligence agencies who prioritise "security" over morality. For them, the law is an obstacle to be overcome in order to catch the bad guys. And the bad guys are defined by - you guessed it - the ambitious, manipulating, lying politicians. Then there are companies in the middle. They are motivated by nothing but money. So if the government pays them to hand over information or to access their technology, they will do it.
Since 9/11, the politicians only have to utter the words "security" and "terrorist" to get the foolish and unethical public to assent to whatever the politicians want. And now we have an eternal war on terrorism and the whole world is the battleground. Therefore, the idea of permanent and extensive surveillance has become normalised.
I wish that people would not be tricked into sacrificing long-term freedom and power for short-term security issues.
