I feel like the problem is that people outside of tech don't have a sense of how much data is collected, and they also don't really see negative consequences of

I feel like the problem is that people outside of tech don't have a sense of how much data is collected, and they also don't really see negative consequences of it. First, there aren't really any negative consequences to government surveillance. People don't regularly disappear in the middle of the night for a comment on a blog post, and there haven't been any major security leaks yet. This could easily change in the future of course, but so far it's easy to ignore. Second, there's no cool dashboard showing what info the NSA has on you. If individuals could see the scope of info stored on them, they would probably feel differently. For example, many people feel creeped out when they view Google's map of their location history. This is an opt-in choice and the map exists for your benefit, but it still makes people uncomfortable to see their lives so plainly visible on a screen.