What USA is doing is not nice. Someone ransacking your communications because you are a foreigner. So the threshold to spy on someone is rather low.

Thing is UK-Australia-New Zealand & Canada are all part of the same spy group and use some similar technologies. US holding the keys to the Internet (DNS) means they are in a rather unique position.

However not only those five are involved. China actively monitors not just their citizens metadata but their content. Russia's internal police probably are only hampered by cash flow.

France and Germany have both been outed as running similar programs. The highest horse on this is a Shetland pony.

It's not country vs country as much as country vs their own citizens and others. The spying is aimed at Joe Citizen and is used how? Apparently for data theft, tracking of crimes, commercial gain... But all done so opaquely no one can be sure what the real benefits or costs are. But just imagine the ability to abuse such a system by an individual, a contracted company or the government itself. Afterall weren't journalists spied upon to look for whistle blowers... Is this what the patriot act was supposed to combat?