Unfortunately this is probably going to be the most effective restraint on state-sponsored surveillance. Whereas it would be great if there was some technical solution, better if there was a political solution and perfect if ethics and constitutional law triumphed, hitting the US Government in it's wallet will probably have the greatest impact.
I'm only sorry it's not into the hundreds of billions. I don't know if $30 billion loss in 3 years is that strong of a deterrence against the mass spying. If I were in the administration/NSA I'd probably think we could make that back through some industrial espionage alone.
