I think the pandemic-induced large-scale acceptance of videoconferencing has also played a great role in legitimizing more pervasive surveillance. Not just from the government but also from the private sector, as companies now feel entitled to regulate how we spend our time at home, since remote work for many means working from home. As boundaries between work-life and life beyond work eroded over the last year, so did the boundaries between private and public. Many of us posted pictures of our homes online, redid wall decors and interiors to "present" a better "background" for our daily work calls. Just before the pandemic there was also the craze for Alexa and Google Assistant. Many--much more than we'd like to believe--think of these things as welcome developments, as things that ease their lives. Regulation is still far away, and companies and governments are known to make the most of the lack of regulation. In fact, regulation is often thought of as a measure likely to cripple the free-market economy (See:
Society: The Basics), so the fight is quite steep.
