Every government spies on it's people (and everybody else it can) and lie about it. All Snowden did is show how much.
Every government department wants access to this information (tax, police, child support, welfare etc) and as such will do everything they can to bring it in. They know the public will be upset so it's easier to sneak it in and lie about it.
Safer for everyone to just assume they're watching and act accordingly.
What pisses me off is with this information, they can accuse you of any crap claim and then go fishing through your history for any misdeeds you may or may not have done. Yes you've been cleared of fraud so now we'll charge you with piracy cause you've logged into The Pirate Bay several times in the last five years...