Capture lane

Digital & Tech Capture

The Digital & Tech Capture capture lane traces 567 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.

567 events From Jan 1, 1970 To Mar 31, 2026 Open in filter view →
DateEventLanesStatus
2018-05-08Ring launches Neighbors app creating crowdsourced surveillance network
Ring · Amazon
confirmed
2018-03-29Fayette County, Georgia becomes first US jurisdiction to deploy Carbyne's Israeli Unit 8200-developed 911 surveillance technology
Fayette County Georgia · Carbyne · Ehud Barak · Lital Leshem · +4
confirmed
2018-03-10Zeynep Tufekci Exposes YouTube as "The Great Radicalizer": Recommendation Algorithm Systematically Pushes Users Toward Extremism
Zeynep Tufekci · Guillaume Chaslot · YouTube · Google
confirmed
2018-03-01Facebook Lobbies Irish Government to Weaken GDPR Enforcement, Creates EU Data Protection Haven
Facebook · Irish Data Protection Commission · Enda Kenny (Irish Taoiseach) · Max Schrems · +1
confirmed
2018-02-27Amazon acquires Ring for over $1 billion, creating foundation for private surveillance network
Amazon · Jeff Bezos · Jamie Siminoff · Ring
confirmed
2018-02-05Trump's CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney Shuts Down Equifax Investigation, Exposing Regulatory Capture
Mick Mulvaney · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Equifax · Donald Trump · +1
confirmed
2018-01-01Amazon Pays Zero Federal Income Tax Again on $11.2 Billion Profit—Receives $129 Million Tax Rebate
Amazon · Jeff Bezos · Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
confirmed
2018-01-01Grayshift Secures Major Contracts with ICE, DEA, and FBI for GrayKey Technology
Grayshift · Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · Drug Enforcement Administration · Federal Bureau of Investigation · +2
confirmed
2017-12-14FCC Under Ajit Pai Repeals Net Neutrality in 3-2 Party-Line Vote
Ajit Pai · Donald Trump · Verizon Communications · Mignon Clyburn · +3
confirmed
2017-10-30Mueller Indicts Paul Manafort and Rick Gates on 12 Counts Including Conspiracy Against the United States
Paul Manafort · Rick Gates · Robert Mueller
confirmed
2017-10-28First QAnon Post on 4chan's /pol/: Chan Culture's Conspiracy Architecture Produces a Mass Political Movement
Q (anonymous poster)
confirmed
2017-10-05George Papadopoulos Becomes First Trump Campaign Official to Plead Guilty in Mueller Probe
George Papadopoulos · Joseph Mifsud · Robert Mueller · Donald Trump
confirmed
2017-09-13Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Requested Military Jet for European Honeymoon, Request Denied After Scrutiny
Steve Mnuchin · Louise Linton
confirmed
2017-09-07Equifax Finally Discloses Breach 40 Days After Discovery, Exposing Regulatory Capture
Richard Smith · Equifax · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · Mick Mulvaney · +1
confirmed
2017-08-21Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Uses Military Jet for Solar Eclipse Viewing Trip to Kentucky
Steve Mnuchin · Louise Linton · Mitch McConnell
confirmed
2017-06-01Anduril Industries Founded by Palantir Alumni with Thiel Backing, Building Autonomous Weapons Layer
Palmer Luckey · Trae Stephens · Brian Schimpf · Matt Grimm · +4
confirmed
2017-05-15FCC Begins Investigation into Massive Fake Comments Campaign on Net Neutrality Repeal
Ajit Pai · Federal Communications Commission · New York Attorney General's Office
confirmed
2017-05-13Equifax Data Breach Exposes 147 Million Americans Due to Unpatched Apache Struts Vulnerability
Equifax · Richard Smith · Apache Software Foundation · Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
confirmed
2017-04-25DarkMatter Signs Strategic Surveillance Technology Agreement with Huawei, Facilitated by Erik Prince Network
DarkMatter · Huawei · Erik Prince · Pegasus · +1
confirmed
2017-04-07Taser International Rebrands as Axon, Offers Free Body Cameras to Every US Police Officer in Aggressive Market Expansion
Axon · Rick Smith · Law Enforcement
confirmed
2017-03-30Palmer Luckey Leaves Facebook After Political Donation Controversy
Palmer Luckey · Mark Zuckerberg · Facebook · Donald Trump
confirmed
2017-02-22Washington Post Launches "Democracy Dies in Darkness" Slogan Under Bezos Ownership
Jeff Bezos · Washington Post · Bob Woodward
confirmed
2017-02-15Cofer Black, Former Blackwater Vice Chairman and CIA Counterterrorism Chief, Joins Burisma Board
Joseph Cofer Black · Erik Prince · Nikolay Zlochevskyi · Hunter Biden · +1
confirmed
2017-01-23Trump Appoints Ajit Pai as FCC Chairman, Installing Former Verizon Lawyer to Regulate His Former Employer
Donald Trump · Ajit Pai · Verizon Communications · Federal Communications Commission · +1
confirmed
2017-01-1428 States Adopt Right-to-Work Laws, Documenting ALEC's Systematic Labor Suppression Success
American Legislative Exchange Council · Koch brothers · Americans for Prosperity · U.S. Chamber of Commerce · +2
confirmed
2017-01-01Amazon Pays Zero Federal Income Tax on $5.6 Billion Profit
Amazon · Jeff Bezos · Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
confirmed
2017-01-01Clearview AI Founded to Build Mass Facial Recognition Database
Hoan Ton-That · Richard Schwartz · Peter Thiel · Clearview AI
confirmed
2017-01-01Hacker Steals 900 GB of Data from Cellebrite, Exposing Customer Information and Technical Details
Cellebrite
confirmed
2016-11-30Amazon launches Rekognition facial recognition service, targeting law enforcement
Amazon · AWS · Andy Jassy
confirmed
2016-09-12Indianapolis Star Investigation Exposes Nassar Abuse After FBI Sat on Allegations for 14 Months
Indianapolis Star · Larry Nassar · Michigan State University Police · USA Gymnastics · +4
confirmed
2016-08-17Bannon Named Trump Campaign CEO: The Gamergate-to-MAGA Pipeline Is Formalized
Steve Bannon · Donald Trump · Kellyanne Conway · Robert Mercer · +1
confirmed
2016-08-14Black Ledger Reveals $12.7 Million in Secret Cash Payments to Trump Campaign Chair Manafort
Paul Manafort · Viktor Yanukovych · Oleg Deripaska · Trump Campaign · +1
confirmed
2016-07-27Trump Publicly Calls on Russia to Hack Clinton Emails, GRU Begins Targeting Clinton Servers Same Day
Donald Trump · Russian GRU · Hillary Clinton · Robert Mueller
confirmed
2016-06-12Walgreens Terminates Theranos Partnership After 31,000 Customers Receive Voided Test Results
Walgreens · Theranos · Elizabeth Holmes · Food and Drug Administration · +1
confirmed
2016-05-20Russian Official Alexander Torshin Meets Donald Trump Jr. at NRA Convention After Requesting Trump Meeting
Alexander Torshin · Maria Butina · Donald Trump Jr. · Donald Trump · +1
confirmed
2016-03-15CDC Issues First Opioid Prescribing Guidelines, Twenty Years After OxyContin Launch
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
confirmed
2016-03-01FBI Works with Cellebrite to Crack San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone After Apple Refuses
Federal Bureau of Investigation · Cellebrite · Apple
confirmed
2016-02-16FBI Orders Apple to Break iPhone Encryption in San Bernardino Case
Apple · Tim Cook · Federal Bureau of Investigation · James Comey · +1
confirmed
2016-01-28Trump Uses Charity Foundation for Iowa Campaign Event, Violating Tax Law
Donald Trump · Trump Foundation · Corey Lewandowski
confirmed
2016-01-01Grayshift Founded in Atlanta to Develop GrayKey iPhone Unlocking Technology
Grayshift · David Miles · Braden Thomas · Justin Fisher · +1
confirmed
2016-01-01NRA Spends Record $30-55 Million Supporting Trump, FBI Investigates Russian Money Laundering
National Rifle Association · Donald Trump · Maria Butina · Alexander Torshin · +2
confirmed
2015-10-27Bannon Launches Breitbart Tech with Milo Yiannopoulos to Capture Gamergate Army: "Rootless White Males"
Steve Bannon · Milo Yiannopoulos · Breitbart News · Robert Mercer · +1
confirmed
2015-10-27Northrop Grumman Wins $80 Billion B-21 Raider Stealth Bomber Contract
Northrop Grumman · U.S. Air Force · U.S. Department of Defense · Boeing · +2
confirmed
2015-10-15Wall Street Journal Exposes Theranos Blood-Testing Fraud in Landmark Investigation
John Carreyrou · Elizabeth Holmes · Theranos · Wall Street Journal · +2
confirmed
2015-08-01ShotSpotter Gunshot Detection System Expands to Major U.S. Cities
ShotSpotter · NYPD · Sacramento Police Department
confirmed
2015-07-28FBI Indianapolis Field Office Receives Nassar Allegations from USA Gymnastics, Fails to Open Investigation for 14 Months
Federal Bureau of Investigation · W. Jay Abbott · Michael Langeman · USA Gymnastics · +6
confirmed
2015-06-29NBC Fires Trump from The Apprentice Following Racist Comments About Mexican Immigrants
Donald Trump · NBC
confirmed
2015-06-18Northrop Grumman Pays $11.4 Million for Illegally Billing Executive Compensation to Federal Contracts
Northrop Grumman · Department of Justice · Defense Contract Management Agency · Defense Contract Audit Agency
confirmed
2015-06-10Reddit Bans r/FatPeopleHate and Hate Subreddits: Deplatforming Pushes Users to Voat and 8chan, Accelerating Radicalization
Reddit Inc. · Ellen Pao
confirmed
2015-03-17Rep. Aaron Schock Resigns Amid Luxury Spending and Mileage Fraud Scandal
Aaron Schock
confirmed
2015-02-01PredPol Predictive Policing Software Adopted by 60 U.S. Police Departments
PredPol
confirmed
2014-09-17Apple Announces iOS 8 Encryption Makes iPhones Unlockable Even by Apple
Apple · Tim Cook · National Security Agency · Federal Bureau of Investigation
confirmed
2014-06-28Facebook Emotional Contagion Experiment Revealed
Adam Kramer · Jamie Guillory · Jeff Hancock · Facebook · +1
confirmed
2014-02-24Oracle Acquires BlueKai Data Broker for $400 Million, Expands Surveillance Operations
Oracle · BlueKai · Larry Ellison
confirmed
2014-02-19Facebook Acquires WhatsApp for $19 Billion to Dominate Messaging Market
Facebook · Mark Zuckerberg · WhatsApp · Jan Koum · +2
confirmed
2014-01-01CNP Membership Includes DeVos and Mercer Families - Billionaire Donor Integration
Council for National Policy · DeVos family · Mercer family · Richard DeVos · +3
confirmed
2014-01-01Erik Prince Founds Frontier Services Group with Chinese State Investment from CITIC, Controlled by Chang Zhenming
Erik Prince · Chang Zhenming · CITIC Group · Frontier Services Group
confirmed
2013-12-09American Airlines-US Airways Merger Creates Airline Oligopoly: Big Four Control 75% of Market
American Airlines · US Airways · Department of Justice · Antitrust Division
confirmed
2013-12-05Tech Companies Launch Transparency Reports After NSA Revelations
Google · Microsoft · Yahoo · Facebook · +3
confirmed
2013-08-08Lavabit Encrypted Email Service Shuts Down Rather Than Comply with NSA Demands
Ladar Levison · Lavabit · Federal Bureau of Investigation · National Security Agency · +1
confirmed
2013-08-05Jeff Bezos Purchases Washington Post for $250 Million
Jeff Bezos · Donald Graham · Washington Post Company
confirmed
2013-08-01Chicago Police Launch Strategic Subject List "Heat List" Predictive Policing Program
Chicago Police Department
confirmed
2013-06-06Washington Post and Guardian Reveal NSA PRISM Program for Direct Server Access
Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · Bart Gellman · National Security Agency · +5
confirmed
2013-06-05Snowden Reveals NSA Mass Surveillance and PRISM Program
Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · Laura Poitras · Bart Gellman · +1
confirmed
2013-04-03Edwin Feulner Retires as Heritage Foundation President After 36 Years Building Conservative Movement Infrastructure
Edwin Feulner · Heritage Foundation · Jim DeMint · Richard Scaife · +4
confirmed
2013-03-15Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Drone Costs Surge to $222 Million Per Aircraft
Northrop Grumman · U.S. Air Force · U.S. Department of Defense · U.S. Government Accountability Office
confirmed
2013-02-20Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Pleads Guilty to $750,000 Campaign Fund Fraud
Jesse Jackson Jr. · Sandra Stevens Jackson
confirmed
2013-01-03Google's Political Influence Derails FTC Antitrust Investigation
Federal Trade Commission · Google Inc. · Larry Page · Eric Schmidt · +3
confirmed
2012-10-01Reddit's "Manosphere" Reaches Critical Mass: r/TheRedPill and r/MensRights Become Gateway to White Nationalist Radicalization
Reddit Inc.
confirmed
2012-06-01New Orleans Police Launch Secret Palantir Predictive Policing Program
NOPD · Palantir Technologies · Mitch Landrieu · Peter Thiel
confirmed
2012-04-09Facebook Acquires Instagram for Billion to Neutralize Potential Competitor
Facebook Inc. · Mark Zuckerberg · Instagram Inc. · Kevin Systrom · +2
confirmed
2012-01-15PredPol Predictive Policing Company Founded
George Mohler · Jeff Brantingham
confirmed
2012-01-01Amazon Implements Automated Worker Surveillance and Tracking System
Jeff Bezos · Amazon
confirmed
2012-01-01Patent Trolls Dominate U.S. Patent Litigation: 61% of All Cases, Systematic Small Business Extraction
Santa Clara University School of Law · U.S. Government Accountability Office · Patent Assertion Entities
confirmed
2011-09-18Amazon Lehigh Valley Warehouse Heat Exhaustion Scandal Exposed
Jeff Bezos · Amazon
confirmed
2011-09-01LAPD Launches Operation LASER Predictive Policing Program with Palantir
LAPD · Palantir Technologies · Craig Uchida · Peter Thiel
confirmed
2011-01-01Geofeedia Founded to Enable Location-Based Social Media Surveillance
Phil Harris · Mike Mulroy · Scott Mitchell · In-Q-Tel
confirmed
2010-01-01DonorsTrust Organizational Profile: Dark Money ATM Enabling Anonymous Billionaire Political Spending
DonorsTrust · Donors Capital Fund · Whitney Lynn Ball · Kimberly Dennis · +6
confirmed
2009-12-01Arizona SB 1070 Immigration Law Drafted at ALEC Meeting with CCA Executives - Direct Quid Pro Quo for Immigrant Detention Profits
American Legislative Exchange Council · Corrections Corporation of America · Russell Pearce · Jan Brewer · +3
confirmed
2009-07-01In-Q-Tel and Google Ventures Co-Invest in Social Media Surveillance Firm Recorded Future
In-Q-Tel · Google Ventures · Recorded Future · Christopher Ahlberg
confirmed
2009-04-02Northrop Grumman Pays $325 Million for Decade of Defective Spy Satellite Parts
Northrop Grumman · TRW Inc. · Department of Justice · National Reconnaissance Office · +2
confirmed
2009-02-17Trump Entertainment Resorts Files Bankruptcy, Trump Resigns from Board
Donald Trump
confirmed
2009-01-01Dataminr Founded to Provide Real-Time Social Media Surveillance, Later Backed by CIA Venture Capital
Ted Bailey · Sam Hendel · Jeff Kinsey · In-Q-Tel · +1
confirmed
2009-01-01Energy and Commerce Committee Members Receive $45M From Pharma During ACA Debate
House Energy and Commerce Committee · Fred Upton · PhRMA · Pfizer · +1
confirmed
2009-01-01LAPD's Joint Regional Intelligence Center Begins Using Palantir for Surveillance
Joint Regional Intelligence Center · Los Angeles Police Department · Palantir Technologies · U.S. Department of Homeland Security
confirmed
2008-10-29Delta-Northwest Merger Approved: Beginning of Airline Industry Consolidation Wave
Delta Air Lines · Northwest Airlines · Department of Justice · Antitrust Division
confirmed
2008-10-03Mental Health Parity Act Signed into Law with No Enforcement Mechanism, Enabling Systematic Insurer Non-Compliance
George W. Bush · Paul Wellstone · Pete Domenici · U.S. Department of Labor · +2
confirmed
2008-09-19Paulson Authorizes AIG Bailout Benefiting Goldman Sachs
Henry Paulson · Lloyd Blankfein · Don Jester
confirmed
2008-09-15Lehman Brothers Files Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History with $639 Billion in Assets After Government Refuses Bailout, Creating Arbitrary 'Too Big to Fail' Enforcement Where Bear Stearns and AIG Were Rescued But Lehman Was Allowed to Collapse, Triggering Global Financial Panic
Lehman Brothers · Richard Fuld · Henry Paulson · Ben Bernanke · +3
confirmed
2008-03-16Bear Stearns Collapse and Federal Reserve-Facilitated Fire Sale to JPMorgan with $29 Billion Taxpayer Guarantee Establishes 'Too Big to Fail' Precedent with Zero Criminal Prosecutions Despite Fraud-Driven Collapse
Bear Stearns · JPMorgan Chase · Federal Reserve Bank of New York · Ben Bernanke · +3
confirmed
2008-01-15Project Chanology: Anonymous Mobilizes Against Scientology, Proving Chan Culture Can Produce Real-World Action
Anonymous · Church of Scientology
confirmed
2008-01-01Palantir Gotham Platform Released for Intelligence and Defense Applications
Palantir Technologies · Central Intelligence Agency · Intelligence Community
confirmed
2007-11-02CIA Detainee Gul Rahman Froze to Death at Black Site - No One Prosecuted for Homicide
Gul Rahman · Central Intelligence Agency · Afghanistan
confirmed
2007-09-15Honest Leadership Act Takes Effect But Fails to Slow Congressional Revolving Door
U.S. Congress · K Street · Public Citizen
confirmed
2007-05-10Purdue Pharma Pleads Guilty to Criminal Misbranding, $600M Fine, Zero Executives Jailed
Purdue Pharma · Michael Friedman · Howard R. Udell · Paul D. Goldenheim · +1
confirmed
2007-01-01Cellebrite Launches Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) for Law Enforcement
Cellebrite
confirmed
2006-12-29AT&T Completes $86 Billion BellSouth Acquisition: Bell System Reassembled After 1984 Breakup
AT&T Inc. · BellSouth Corporation · Federal Communications Commission · SBC Communications
confirmed
2005-11-08Dick Cheney Lobbies Congress for CIA Exemption from McCain Torture Ban
Dick Cheney · John McCain · Porter Goss · Central Intelligence Agency · +1
confirmed
2005-09-28House Majority Leader Tom DeLay Indicted for Money Laundering and Conspiracy
Tom DeLay
confirmed
2004-11-21Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Files Bankruptcy, Trump Removed as CEO
Donald Trump
confirmed