Honestly, I doubt if most people know the government/Google is watching over their online activities from afar. Because if people are aware of this, there would've been an uproar of some kind.
Now, let's assume the government is actually really watching us. How come my country is notoriously known for being the den of internet scammers? Is the government blind to the nefarious activities of these lowlifes? Or, they turned a blind eye because they are quietly gaining from it?
Away from that, since the day I know my online activities are being monitored I've tried to take preventive measures. Even though it's more or less useless, knowing that I'm doing something tangible to protect myself from the craziness out there is wholesome.
For example, I rarely use Chrome for browsing these days. Asides the annoying adverts and the pressure on my RAM, Chromes makes me feel like every stroke of the key on my phone is being monitored. Since then, I switched to Brave browser. Though it's not perfect in itself, I feel a lot safer using it.
Now, can any good thing come from my internet activities being monitored? I doubt it. Except I'm embroiled in a criminal case where my online activities can be used as evidence to save my ass, I don't see how those dirty, prying eyes of the government do me a favour.
The downside of being watched? Numerous!
In a corrupt government where the leaders are after their purses, anything goes. I've seen people sell out their folks for a little less than tangible information. What will stop these bunch of criminals from selling us out for their personal gain? Nothing.
Few years ago, my mom's account was wiped clean. Thankfully, the account was for minor savings so the money that was stolen wasn't much. I asked for her ATM card and she had it well hidden in her bag. She didn't receive a call from anyone asking for the pin to her ATM card either. Immediately, I knew what happened to her was what we call "an insider job."
Obviously, one of the staff of the bank who had access to her information sold her out. Once the fraudster had her card info, all he needed to do was to guess her PIN. Naturally, older women tend to use important dates as their PIN. I guess after several trials the idiot hit the jackpot. Unfortunately, a lot of people have been defrauded that way.
If a bank staff can go as low as doing such despicable things despite getting well paid, what is stopping a crook in the government from doing worse?
Though I have little to no idea how we can keep our activities away from the watchful eyes of the government, I wish we get to the point where we are not being monitored by these folks. Afterall, their constant monitoring hasn't stopped online frauds. In fact, it's gotten worse in recent years to the point that it now feels like a legal, acceptable thing to do.
