It works in Russia, China, and less so (perhaps) America (e.g. telcos). It's similarly practical for a government to have unlimited intelligence on its populace

It works in Russia, China, and less so (perhaps) America (e.g. telcos). It's similarly practical for a government to have unlimited intelligence on its populace. That doesn't mean its good for anyone not working for the government, explicitly (as an employee or contractor) or implicitly (as a data collecting company which can be forced to share). IMO a) collecting data on users and b) doing it in a way that does not preserve user privacy makes you complicit to mass surveillance. Edit: directly -> explicitly