I like the quote as well, but I think it's flawed. One could argue that "the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities" is supported by surveillance to ensure certain rights and equality is upheld. It all depends on who and what and how the surveillance is carried out.
Well as it stands now we are all under surveillance constantly, and it is not to ensure our rights and equality are upheld. What you're talking about is having some set of rules and regulations for all people to abide by within a system to ensure our collective safety. No one is against using modern technology to ensure everyone's collective safety and equality, etc. There is a line between no surveillance and constant surveillance where we can find justice for everyone. But the NSA's policies were not democratically decided upon and do not have our best interests at heart. They have the best interests of the power establishment at heart. mk said it in the podcast. A real representative democracy should be afraid of the people, not the other way around.