Sorry for the wall of text. I think this is a place where the people on Hacker News can actually _do something_ about the surveillance.
But bringing in a bunch of unformed yelling people into the IETF won't help. Bringing in a bunch of concerned but informed people _can_ make a difference. But like most things that make a difference it will take a bit more of your time than just clicking a form.
Democracy, liberty, privacy need at least a few percent of the population to invest a substantial amount of effort. If those few percent are missing the totalitarian state is unavoidable.
But bringing in a bunch of unformed yelling people into the IETF won't help. Bringing in a bunch of concerned but informed people _can_ make a difference. But like most things that make a difference it will take a bit more of your time than just clicking a form.