> Basically everybody, by an absolutely overwhelming margin, feels that the risks of mass surveillance (including from the government) outweigh the benefits, wi

> Basically everybody, by an absolutely overwhelming margin, feels that the risks of mass surveillance (including from the government) outweigh the benefits, with a similarly overwhelming majority also concerned about how the data is being [mis]used. And this has always been true. People blame the victims of surveillance for not being concerned enough to stop the perpetrators, who somehow come off as innocent by comparison; i.e. if you let them get away with it, of course they'll do it - who wouldn't! You might as well say it of a murder victim (if you empathize with murderers like coders empathize with tech giants.) As Stallman says, you're compelled to sign away your rights, because they'll make you do it to send your kids to school, to have a phone, to pay your taxes, to go to court, to interview for a job, to pay your rent, etc. For the average person this entails signing dozens of EULAs with dozens of different companies. We can pretend that we're living in a democracy, but if the current actual material reality of citizenship necessarily requires signing all of your rights away (most often your right to privacy, your right to trial, or your right to speak), you know where you're living. You don't need to be a techie to know what that is; everybody knows what that is.