Comment by zbentley

I’m not defending it and hate it too, but it’s worth remembering that from the perspective of many governments and regulators, the internet is a legally broken Wild West that the law needs to catch up with. Viewed through the lens of legal precedent that balanced privacy/safety/liberty before telecommunications networks, that is true: surveillance was permitted within a very broad set of parameters (by default, even: that’s why we talk about e.g. private residences being protected exceptions to no-privacy-by-default).

Again, I don’t endorse that framing. But that’s where a lot of lawmakers are at. They’re not corrupt or fascists or hysterical about porn or whatever (well, plenty are, but not most). They’re trying to correct what they identify as a dangerously uncontrolled area.