I think you might be overestimating how valuable mass surveillance is for any individual actor in the government, and perhaps the level of foresight necessary..

I think you might be overestimating how valuable mass surveillance is for any individual actor in the government, and perhaps the level of foresight necessary... and the amount of thought that goes into this. " We keep on getting stuck in investigations because of SIM cards not associated to a name!" " Well let's ban anonymous SIM cards. People should be alright handing over their name for a cell phone." "Alrighty then, sounds good" Things like this happen because nobody in the room mentions the drawbacks. This can mainly be a question of social status ("Why would people be afraid of the police? They help you!"). Also, some people's value systems are different...