&gt;Why do we, as a society, tolerate this? &#x2F;&#x2F;<p>In Western democracies [I really want to put quotes around both those words] do we have a choice?<p>In the UK we get to vote but it&#x27;s for one of 2 or 3 sets of policies for the next 5 years, at no point do I recall any main party saying they were going to do something about NSA&#x2F;GCHQ incursions in to UK life; I imagine USA have us over a barrel even if there were political will amongst the elite to change the spying on ordinary subjects [of the Crown].