[Amezarak]

> It sounds like you are claiming that state surveillance is actually a subset of social pressure surrounding what's socially acceptable behavior. You claim the latter to be a bigger and more serious problem

He didn't say it was a bigger problem, he said the problem is bigger than just the government. In other words, it's all part of the same problem.

Governments are not Other. They are part of a society's self-regulatory machinery. Democratic governments in particular are a reflection of society at large. If a government is behaving badly, the root cause has something to do with the society.

That's how I read GP and I can't disagree.

> Socially acceptable behavior is always changing as generations come and go.

Legally acceptable behavior is also always changing as generations come and go. From a sociological perspective laws are simply the formalization of very strong social norms.