I think the overarching hand doing the surveillance will grip every nation as much as it needs to in order to maintain control. When another country seems "freer" 99% of the time its because nobody cares about that country and it has no clout OR those particular "freer" things are necessary to keep that population docile and their freedoms are essentially in name only. Systems Neatest trick by Ted K is all you need to read (if you haven't already) to get it. You're not being negative you're being realistic.