In the army they call that behaviour 'the grey man'; trying to stay out of the upper and lower quartiles to avoid (1) being assigned difficult and / or risky tasks due to competence and (2) being assigned punishment tasks due to incompetence.

Usually grey-manning involves trying to do things just well enough to be signed-off, but not quickly enough to be commended and noted.

Basically being "too normal".

I guess the lesson is to just be yourself and try not to piss anyone off.

Maybe the lesson should be if you're a law abiding citizen you should be able to go throughout your day without being spied on for any reason whatsoever.

Yes but that's not the world we live in is it.

The existence of such a behavior seems a clear indicator that the organization surrounding it punishes excellence--or at the very least, does not reward it in any meaningful way.

There's a mean behavior for a large number of traits. One of those traits is tendency to blend in. Someone who blends in on every trait may be just as exceptional as someone who is well outside the typical range for a dozen of them.

They have the pre-Snowden & post-Snowden behaviour to compare, the diff of these highlights what individuals now want to hide.

Chillingly, 'Grey-man'ing would require a fresh identity - if that is even possible.