>Why can't an innocent individual have private communications with other innocent individuals if so desired?

>Most private stuff is banal and not worth a government budget to look at.

Private conversations are potentially a threat to government as an organization. People might convince one another to vote for less taxes and more accountability <clutches pearls>.

As the cost of keeping tabs on this kind of stuff gets lower the government does it more. It's no different than BigCos tracking your mouse on their eCommerse site "because its, cheap, we can and it might be useful".