there was this point in the 1980s where designers drug makers would change one or two molecules in a drug after it was made illegal to start to sell it again because this new slightly changed molecule combination was not yet illegal.

That did that over and over until …

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Analogue_Act

which ruled that:

which allows any chemical “substantially similar” to a controlled substance listed in Schedule I or II to be treated as if it were listed in Schedule I, but only if intended for human consumption.

Seems like that type of legal positivism could be used against surveillance.

ps - for the number of times that i have had to type and write the word “surveillance” you’d a thunk that i had learnt to spelt it good by now