I think this is a common response. But even though the Snowden revelations were a "scandal", nothing bad really happened to the perpetrators. And the FISA court that rubber-stamped the data collection is still operating and still rubber-stamping government surveillance. So, how is it not business as usual in the US? Consider also how law enforcement now has warrantless access to individuals' location data thanks to data brokers and pervasive location tracking in apps[1].

I would really like to see people in North America demand better from their leaders instead of patting ourselves on the back about how at least we're better than China.

[1] https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2022/09/tool-gives-polic...

> even though the Snowden revelations were a "scandal", nothing bad really happened to the perpetrators

This is true, and bad, but consider another difference in this situation:

In the US, companies were able to respond to this revelation by shoring up their security practices, and people exercised their right to openly criticize the government. This is not possible in China.

Security practices? They collaborated with the NSA, CIA, what have you. You are really deluded.

No, it's only a scandal when information about that access leaks.

The US government still has and has always had access to all data about US citizens.

Bizarre that you think that stopped.