Is the Internet itself a surveillance tool?

The revelations in recent months about government surveillance has shocked people here and abroad. Besides the NSA, the most recent one is that the DEA Special Operations Division fishes the internet and cellphone conversations, and when it hears something incriminating or suspicious, passes it onto the appropriate local agency to then find evidence of the crime and hide where the investigation originated. This "investigation laundering" totally turns the 4th Amendment and the concept of “probable cause” on its head, and its done for criminal cases, not terrorists, not national security. It denies people a fair trial in several ways, one being that they can't confront their accusers.

There are reports of other government agencies scrambling to get their hands NSA information for use. I don't blame them. Let's face it. If the government is allowed to gather such information-- if anybody is-- the question of using it becomes moot. The temptation would be too strong, because it would be idiocy not to use it. Especially in moralistic “equivalent of” wars like the War on Drugs. If it's such a high moral cause, as the government treats it, what possible excuse is there to not use it?