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