Current critiques of governmental surveillance claim that it illegitimately uses surveillance to discourage or prevent activities typically considered permissible in a democratic state.
Examples include: investigative journalists, political dissenters, lawyers representing political activists and dissenters, politicians opposing the policies and goals of those with the power to order surveillance, sustainable energy advocates, environmentalists, animal rights activists, Afro-Americans, Muslims, labor unions, public health practitioners, welfare recipients, parolees, and a diverse collection of types of people the government regards as (possibly) undesirable.