Is mass surveillance organised by states benefic?

Mass surveillance is the close observation of an entire population or a fraction of it. Nowadays, governments perform mass surveillance of their citizens in order to protect them from dangerous groups such as terrorists, criminals, or political subversives and to maintain social control. Companies also have a role to play in mass surveillance because they collect and sell every information about their users.

[...] Mass surveillance help countries to develop a better understanding of each other. Not in the hand-holding, peace-and-love sense, but in knowing what is a genuine threat and what is bluster or posturing. Freed from fear of surprising new weapons, and surprise attacks, countries could safely shrink their militaries. And with reduced armies, we should be able to expect reduced warfare, continuing the historical trend in conflict reduction since the end of the Second World War. II) Mass surveillance from companies is legal. [...]

[...] Mass surveillance put a stronger sword of Damocles on criminals' head. Cameras in the street and avoiding crimes Mass surveillance can destroy the feelings of insecurity: you wouldn't fear an assault when you walk alone in the street by night if you knew that cameras are recording. Technology and punishing criminals Furthermore, more and more people use computers and technologies to commit illegal things like watching child pornography or selling drugs. The development of mass surveillance by scanning internet research or recording telecommunication gives better chance to the police to catch criminals Police today use triangulation methods to listen to dealers' communication, that means they record every messages or phones call in a special area. [...]

[...] Fighting terrorism Mass surveillance is also a weapon of first choice to fight terrorism. It can prevent terrorist attacks and be used to catch terrorists. We all have in minds the terrorist attack that happened 10 days ago in London. In November 2016 (two thousand and sixteen), a major terrorist attack has been thwart by French secret services. Mass surveillance played a very important role in the arrest of the terrorists: the investigation started with encrypted messages between France and Syria. [...]