Starting with the backstory of privacy and how the U.S. and Canada came to legislate freedom from surveillance as an enshrined right, this talk will veer into the technology and economics of personal data collection with some examples of developments over the years that have altered our view of private life. Focus will then turn squarely on government surveillance practice in detail: how it is authorized, targeted, reported and reviewed under our legal framework. In the end, we will talk about the basic democratic principles that motivate the checks and controls upon surveillance – transparency, accountability, efficacy, proportionality, anonymity, etc.