No, it's not just a political problem intelligence gathering can happen at scale, including of civilians, by adversarial countries or international corporations.
"Going the nuclear route and making the collection of data on individuals, aggregated or otherwise, illegal would hardly be some major leap of reach of jurisprudence."
It would in fact be a huge leap. Sure, you could make illegal pretty easily, but current paradigms allow individuals to enter into contracts. Nothing stopping a society from signing (or clicking) away their rights like they already do. That would require some rather hefty intervention by congress, not just jurisprudence.
> current paradigms allow individuals to enter into contracts
And such contracts can be illegal or unenforceable. Just as the parent was suggesting it could be illegal to collect data, it is currently illegal to sell certain drugs. You can’t enter into a contract to sell cannabis across state lines in the United States for example.
"Going the nuclear route and making the collection of data on individuals, aggregated or otherwise, illegal would hardly be some major leap of reach of jurisprudence."
It would in fact be a huge leap. Sure, you could make illegal pretty easily, but current paradigms allow individuals to enter into contracts. Nothing stopping a society from signing (or clicking) away their rights like they already do. That would require some rather hefty intervention by congress, not just jurisprudence.