Surveillance Infrastructure
The Surveillance Infrastructure capture lane traces 387 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.
Activity over time
Events per year
| Date | Event | Lanes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-08-09 | Google Fined Record $22.5M for Deliberately Overriding Safari Privacy Settings Google · Federal Trade Commission · Apple · Jon Leibowitz (FTC Chairman) · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2012-06-01 | New Orleans Police Launch Secret Palantir Predictive Policing Program NOPD · Palantir Technologies · Mitch Landrieu · Peter Thiel | confirmed | |
| 2012-02-27 | WikiLeaks Publishes 5 Million Stratfor Emails Revealing Private Intelligence Firm's Surveillance of Activists and Corporate Espionage WikiLeaks · Julian Assange · Jeremy Hammond · Stratfor · +10 | confirmed | |
| 2012-01-01 | Amazon Implements Automated Worker Surveillance and Tracking System Jeff Bezos · Amazon | confirmed | |
| 2012-01-01 | Nonprofit Hospital CEO Compensation Explodes: 42.5% Increase While Community Benefit Stagnates Kaiser Permanente · Ascension Health · Tower Health · Bernard Tyson | confirmed | |
| 2011-09-01 | FBI Surveils Occupy Wall Street as "Terrorist Threat" Before First Protest Federal Bureau of Investigation · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Occupy Wall Street · Joint Terrorism Task Force | confirmed | |
| 2011-09-01 | LAPD Launches Operation LASER Predictive Policing Program with Palantir LAPD · Palantir Technologies · Craig Uchida · Peter Thiel | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-01 | Geofeedia Founded to Enable Location-Based Social Media Surveillance Phil Harris · Mike Mulroy · Scott Mitchell · In-Q-Tel | confirmed | |
| 2010-09-24 | FBI Raids Anti-War Activists' Homes in Coordinated Nationwide Operation Federal Bureau of Investigation · Department of Justice · Anti-war activists · Grand jury | confirmed | |
| 2010-07-19 | Washington Post Publishes "Top Secret America," Revealing 1,931 Private Companies in Intelligence Work and Massive Revolving Door Dana Priest · William Arkin · The Washington Post · Office of the Director of National Intelligence | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | NSO Group Founded in Israel to Develop Pegasus Spyware Shalev Hulio · Omri Lavie · Niv Karmi · NSO Group | confirmed | |
| 2009-11-17 | Climategate Email Hack Manufactures Controversy Before Copenhagen Summit Climate Research Unit · University of East Anglia · Phil Jones · Michael Mann · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2009-07-01 | In-Q-Tel and Google Ventures Co-Invest in Social Media Surveillance Firm Recorded Future In-Q-Tel · Google Ventures · Recorded Future · Christopher Ahlberg | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-01 | Dataminr 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 | |
| 2008-05-12 | ICE Conducts Largest Immigration Raid in U.S. History at Postville, Iowa Agriprocessors Plant, Arresting 389 Workers While Management Faces No Criminal Charges Despite Systematic Labor Law Violations and Exploitation Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Agriprocessors Inc. · Sholom Rubashkin · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2008-03-20 | Sprint Nextel GPS Location Data Sharing with Law Enforcement Sprint Nextel · National Security Agency · Bush Administration · Law Enforcement Agencies | confirmed | |
| 2008-01-01 | Palantir Gotham Platform Released for Intelligence and Defense Applications Palantir Technologies · Central Intelligence Agency · Intelligence Community | confirmed | |
| 2007-08-01 | Verizon's Deep Involvement in NSA Surveillance Programs Bush Administration · National Security Agency · Verizon Communications | confirmed | |
| 2007-01-01 | Cellebrite Launches Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) for Law Enforcement Cellebrite | confirmed | |
| 2007-01-01 | Israel Passes Defense Export Control Law, Creating Framework That Enables Pegasus as Diplomatic Weapon Israeli Ministry of Defense · Defense Export Control Agency (DECA) · Benjamin Netanyahu · NSO Group | confirmed | |
| 2005-01-01 | CIA's In-Q-Tel Makes Strategic Investment in Palantir Technologies In-Q-Tel · Central Intelligence Agency · Palantir Technologies | confirmed | |
| 2004-10-27 | Google Acquires CIA-Backed Keyhole, Foundation for Google Earth Google · Keyhole Inc. · In-Q-Tel · Central Intelligence Agency | confirmed | |
| 2004-02-01 | Accenture Awarded Competitive DHS US-VISIT Contract Accenture · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Asa Hutchinson · Smart Border Alliance | confirmed | |
| 2003-09-24 | Congress Officially Defunds Total Information Awareness Program U.S. Congress · United States Senate · U.S. House of Representatives · George W. Bush · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2003-08-29 | John Poindexter Resigns from DARPA After TIA Scandal, Surveillance Architect Exits to Private Sector John Poindexter · DARPA · Information Awareness Office · SAIC · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2003-06-15 | NSA Awards AT&T $500 Million Multi-Year Surveillance Infrastructure Contract George W. Bush · Michael Hayden · AT&T Leadership · NSA Officials | confirmed | |
| 2003-05-01 | Palantir Technologies Founded by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and PayPal Engineers Peter Thiel · Alex Karp · Nathan Gettings · Joe Lonsdale · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2003-02-01 | In-Q-Tel Invests in Keyhole's EarthViewer During Iraq War Buildup In-Q-Tel · Keyhole Inc. · National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency · CNN | confirmed | |
| 2002-11-09 | New York Times Exposes Total Information Awareness Surveillance Program, Sparking Public Outcry New York Times · John Markoff · DARPA · John Poindexter · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2002-08-02 | Poindexter Announces DARPA Total Information Awareness Program John Poindexter · DARPA · Information Awareness Office · George W. Bush administration | confirmed | |
| 2001-09-21 | AT&T Establishes Mass Internet Surveillance Infrastructure for NSA AT&T Corporate Leadership · National Security Agency · Bush Administration · Mark Klein (AT&T Technician) | confirmed | |
| 2001-09-04 | Oracle Hires CIA Executive Director David Carney, Establishes Information Assurance Center Oracle · David W. Carney · Central Intelligence Agency · Larry Ellison | confirmed | |
| 2000-04-05 | Duncan Campbell Delivers Interception Capabilities 2000 Report to European Parliament, Forces ECHELON Inquiry Duncan Campbell · European Parliament · STOA (Scientific and Technological Options Assessment) · National Security Agency · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2000-01-01 | Stock Options Become Primary Executive Compensation, Aligning CEO Interests with Short-Term Stock Price Manipulation Corporate boards · Compensation consultants · Wall Street | confirmed | |
| 1999-11-20 | Wassenaar Arrangement Cryptography Provisions Liberalized, US Export Controls Follow Wassenaar Arrangement Secretariat · Department of Commerce · William Daley · William Reinsch · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1999-09-01 | CIA Establishes In-Q-Tel as Revolutionary Venture Capital Arm Central Intelligence Agency · George Tenet · Gilman Louie · Norman Augustine · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1999-04-27 | DARPA's Brian Sharkey Coins "Total Information Awareness" at DARPATech Conference Brian Sharkey · John Poindexter · Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency · Syntek Technologies | confirmed | |
| 1999-04-05 | NSA Launches NSANet Classified Network Consolidation, Fort Meade Reaches "Crypto City" Scale Michael Hayden · National Security Agency · Barbara McNamara | confirmed | |
| 1999-01-01 | Cellebrite Founded in Israel to Develop Mobile Phone Data Transfer Technology Cellebrite · Avi Yablonka · Yaron Baratz · Yuval Aflalo | reported | |
| 1998-10-30 | NSA's Menwith Hill Station UK Expansion Completed, Reaches 1,200+ Personnel and Peak ECHELON Capacity National Security Agency · Government Communications Headquarters · Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom) | confirmed | |
| 1998-09-01 | Narus Founded, Israeli-Origin Deep-Packet-Inspection Firm Becomes NSA Infrastructure Supplier Narus Inc. · Ori Cohen · Stas Khirman · National Security Agency · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1998-01-01 | CIA Begins Developing In-Q-Tel Concept -- Intelligence Community Plans Entry Into Venture Capital George Tenet · Central Intelligence Agency · Sue Gordon · Ruth David · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1997-10-01 | FBI Begins Development of Carnivore/DCS1000 Internet Surveillance System Louis Freeh · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Marcus Thomas · Electronic Frontier Foundation · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1997-06-01 | NSA Creates Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center, Binney and Wiebe Lead Bulk-Collection Technical Design William Binney · J. Kirk Wiebe · Ed Loomis · National Security Agency · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1996-07-01 | Nicky Hager Publishes Secret Power, First Detailed Public Description of ECHELON System Nicky Hager · Government Communications Security Bureau · National Security Agency · Craig Potton Publishing · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1996-04-24 | Clinton Signs AEDPA, Expands Federal Surveillance and Creates FTO Terrorism Framework Bill Clinton · Orrin Hatch · Bob Dole · Joe Biden · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1996-01-11 | DOJ Drops Zimmermann PGP Investigation, Marks Crypto Wars Policy Inflection Phil Zimmermann · Department of Justice · U.S. Customs Service · Michael Yamaguchi · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1996-01-01 | George Friedman Founds Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor), the "Shadow CIA" of Private Geopolitical Intelligence George Friedman · Stratfor · Matthew Baker | confirmed | |
| 1994-10-25 | Clinton Signs CALEA Requiring Telecom Networks to Be Wiretap-Ready By Design Bill Clinton · Louis Freeh · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Edward Markey · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1994-09-13 | Intelligence Community Deploys Intelink, Classified Web-Based Network Enabling Bulk Information Sharing James Woolsey · R. James Woolsey · Central Intelligence Agency · Defense Intelligence Agency · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1994-09-13 | Violent Crime Control Act Expands Federal Wiretap Predicates and Roving Wiretap Authority Bill Clinton · Joe Biden · Department of Justice · 103rd Congress | confirmed | |
| 1994-06-02 | Matt Blaze Publishes Clipper Chip Security Flaw, Demonstrates Key-Escrow Bypassability Matt Blaze · AT&T Bell Labs · National Security Agency · National Institute of Standards and Technology | confirmed | |
| 1994-06-01 | FISA Court Annual Report Reveals 99%+ Approval Rate Over 15 Years, Rubber-Stamp Critique Crystallizes Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court · Department of Justice · Office of Intelligence Policy and Review · Center for National Security Studies | confirmed | |
| 1994-01-12 | Whitewater Investigation Launches Under Special Counsel Robert Fiske Bill Clinton · Hillary Clinton · Robert Fiske · Janet Reno | confirmed | |
| 1993-04-16 | Clinton White House Announces Clipper Chip, NSA-Designed Backdoor Encryption with Government Key Escrow Bill Clinton · Al Gore · National Security Agency · National Institute of Standards and Technology · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1993-02-26 | Port Authority Hires Kroll Associates After 1993 World Trade Center Bombing -- Private Intelligence Enters Counterterrorism Jules Kroll · Kroll Associates · Brian Michael Jenkins · Port Authority of New York and New Jersey | confirmed | |
| 1993-02-01 | US Customs Opens Criminal Investigation of Phil Zimmermann Over PGP Encryption Export Phil Zimmermann · U.S. Customs Service · RSA Security · Department of Justice · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1992-03-01 | FBI Launches Digital Telephony Initiative Demanding Wiretap-Ready Design in New Networks William Sessions · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Louis Freeh · National Telecommunications and Information Administration · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1991-06-15 | FBI Cellular Surveillance Pilot Programs Establish Mass-Collection Template Before CALEA Federal Bureau of Investigation · William Sessions · Harris Corporation · National Security Agency | confirmed | |
| 1990-04-25 | Treasury Creates FinCEN, Centralizing Financial Surveillance of American Banking Nicholas Brady · Department of the Treasury · Financial Crimes Enforcement Network · George H.W. Bush | confirmed | |
| 1988-08-12 | Duncan Campbell's New Statesman Article First Publicly Names ECHELON Surveillance Network Duncan Campbell · Margaret Newsham · Government Communications Headquarters · National Security Agency · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1986-10-21 | Congress Passes Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Codifies Third-Party Doctrine for Digital Communications Robert Kastenmeier · Patrick Leahy · Ronald Reagan · 99th Congress | confirmed | |
| 1985-09-04 | Inslaw Files Bankruptcy Accusing DOJ of Stealing PROMIS Software for Intelligence Use William Hamilton · Inslaw Inc. · Department of Justice · Edwin Meese · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1985-01-01 | Maxwell Begins Distribution of Backdoored PROMIS Software to KGB and China Robert Maxwell · KGB · Chinese Military Intelligence · PLA-2 · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1985-01-01 | PROMIS Software Creates Global Intelligence Surveillance Network Through Maxwell Distribution Robert Maxwell · US Intelligence · Soviet KGB · Multiple intelligence agencies · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1984-01-01 | Manhattan Institute Organizational Profile: Urban Policy Infrastructure and CIA-Connected Think Tank Manhattan Institute · William J. Casey · Antony Fisher · Charles Murray · +6 | confirmed | |
| 1982-09-20 | Bamford's The Puzzle Palace Published, First Book-Length Public History of NSA After 30 Years of Denial James Bamford · National Security Agency · Houghton Mifflin · Department of Justice | confirmed | |
| 1981-12-04 | Reagan Signs Executive Order 12333, Loosening Intelligence Restrictions and Enabling Private Contractor Involvement Ronald Reagan · Central Intelligence Agency · National Security Agency · Defense Intelligence Agency · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1978-10-25 | Carter Signs Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Creating FISC, Nominal Constraint on Domestic Surveillance Jimmy Carter · Ted Kennedy · Birch Bayh · Church Committee · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1978-01-01 | Manhattan Institute Founded by CIA Director William Casey - Intelligence-Policy Crossover William J. Casey · Antony Fisher · Charles Murray · George Kelling · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1977-08-12 | Weinberger v. Equifax: Fifth Circuit Guts Anti-Pinkerton Act, Clearing Path for Private Intelligence Industry U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals · Equifax Inc. · Government Accountability Office | confirmed | |
| 1977-01-01 | Oracle Corporation Founded to Build CIA Database, Named After CIA Project Larry Ellison · Robert Miner · Central Intelligence Agency · Oracle | confirmed | |
| 1976-06-23 | Supreme Court Miller Decision Holds Bank Records Have No Fourth Amendment Protection, Creates Third-Party Doctrine Lewis Powell · William Rehnquist · Thurgood Marshall · William Brennan · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1975-04-26 | Church Committee Exposes Systemic Intelligence Agency Abuses Frank Church · Central Intelligence Agency · National Security Agency · Federal Bureau of Investigation | confirmed | |
| 1972-06-19 | Supreme Court Keith Decision Requires Warrants for Domestic Security Surveillance, Reserves Foreign Intelligence Question Lewis Powell · Damon Keith · White Panther Party · Department of Justice · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1971-03-08 | COINTELPRO Exposed - FBI's Secret War on Civil Rights and Dissent Revealed Federal Bureau of Investigation · J. Edgar Hoover · Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI | confirmed | |
| 1970-07-14 | Nixon Approves Huston Plan Authorizing Illegal Surveillance, Rescinded After Hoover Objects Richard Nixon · Tom Charles Huston · J. Edgar Hoover · Richard Helms · +4 | confirmed | |
| 1967-08-15 | CIA Launches Operation CHAOS, Systematic Domestic Surveillance of Anti-War Movement Richard Helms · Lyndon B. Johnson · Central Intelligence Agency · James Angleton · +2 | confirmed | |
| 1967-07-01 | NSA Launches Project MINARET Watchlist Program Targeting U.S. Citizens Marshall Carter · Louis Tordella · National Security Agency · Lyndon B. Johnson · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1966-10-15 | Black Panther Party Formation in Oakland Triggers Immediate FBI COINTELPRO Surveillance and State Repression Bobby Seale · Huey P. Newton · FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover · California State Legislature | confirmed | |
| 1966-01-01 | Wackenhut Corporation Acquires HUAC Staffer's Files, Claims Dossiers on 4+ Million Americans George Wackenhut · Wackenhut Corporation · Karl Baarslag · House Un-American Activities Committee | confirmed | |
| 1959-05-29 | Congress Passes NSA Act of 1959 (P.L. 86-36) Exempting NSA From Disclosure of Its Own Functions 86th Congress · Dwight D. Eisenhower · National Security Agency · Department of Defense | confirmed | |
| 1952-11-04 | Truman Creates National Security Agency by Classified Directive, Existence Classified for 23 Years Harry S. Truman · Ralph Canine · National Security Agency · Armed Forces Security Agency | confirmed | |
| 1951-12-06 | Truman Commissions Brownell Committee to Investigate AFSA Failure, Blueprint for NSA Created Harry S. Truman · George Brownell · Armed Forces Security Agency · National Security Council | confirmed | |
| 1949-05-20 | Armed Forces Security Agency Created, Failed Precursor That Drove NSA Consolidation Louis Johnson · Joint Chiefs of Staff · Armed Forces Security Agency · Earl Stone | confirmed | |
| 1946-03-05 | US-UK Sign Secret BRUSA/UKUSA Signals Intelligence Agreement, Foundation of Five Eyes Hoyt Vandenberg · Patrick Marr-Johnson · State-Army-Navy Communication Intelligence Board · London Signals Intelligence Board · +1 | confirmed | |
| 1945-09-01 | Project SHAMROCK Begins, NSA Obtains Copies of All International Cables for 30 Years Armed Forces Security Agency · National Security Agency · Western Union · ITT Communications · +2 | confirmed |