People who resist surveillance object to it and try to prevent it. Pervasive surveillance undermines coordination under informational norms. It attacks coordination at a vulnerable point – its reliance on common knowledge. When common knowledge collapses, so does common-knowledge-facilitated coordination. History attests that coordination under informational norms can collapse across the board. The 1950–1990 East German Stasi is a case in point. The Stasi is a convenient reference point that makes current surveillance practices stand out in sharp relief. Resistance is problematic. People generally have a poor understanding of security issues, and even if one mounts a credible defense, a sufficiently skilled adversary can breach it. The rearguard action of preventing surveillance contributes little to the maintenance and creation of informational norms.