Governments can ban anything they like but the ban doesn't mean much if they cannot feasibly enforce it. Such is the lesson of the War on Drugs: the government comes in and makes trouble for people from time to time, but otherwise they simply haven't got a clue, and for the most part people just live their lives as they please and ignore the laws they don't agree with.

I'm glad there are people fighting the political fights too, though I can't imagine where they get the patience. I certainly have nothing to offer in that arena.

I take your point about the NSA, but it doesn't appear that political action will stop them either, because they are happy to ignore political constraints (and lie to Congress about it, for example) and simply do whatever their technological capabilities allow them to.