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Domestic Surveillance and
A critical examination of the facts
Metadata: Data about data. Federal law does NOT protect your metadata.
It can be collected and stored, and it is.
IP: a somewhat unique identifier that computers use to find each other
through the internet. A bit like an address; you can move, but it’s not
always simple. More related to what you use to connect and where you
are when you connect to the internet than a specific computer.
Server: a large, stationary computer, usually owned by a company, that
hosts a website or lots of information, usually accessed over a network or
What Metadata really means (real quick)
Phone Metadata: whenever two phones call one another, the numbers are
logged and tracked. The time, date, and duration of the call are recorded.
Information about the SIM card is captured and stored. It also takes the IMSI
(international mobile subscriber identification) number and records it. In some
cases, GPS information related to where you made a call from is also
Email Metadata: Who you send emails to, including CC and BCC. The subject
line, timestamp, and IP address of the computer being sent from are also
From the beginning (some quick context)
Mass surveillance is not new, simply enhanced by technology
Mass surveillance generally skirts (or sometimes breaks) the law
The NSA is not the only organization involved in mass surveillance, and has
had predecessors who have done similar things at various times
While we generally think of things like telephone wiretaps, internet monitoring,
or camera systems, it’s important to recognize that it also includes and has
historically involved in person spying, financial monitoring, physical theft of
documents, pattern of life analysis, mail theft, blackmail, and threats
Mass surveillance is often used to watch people who are not only terrorists,
but also politically unpopular or otherwise disliked, even in the US.
Some early examples of domestic surveillance
● 1795, Buncombe County
● Secret Service
● Confederate Signal Corps
● Counter Intelligence Corps (WWII)
Project VENONA (1941-1980)
Run by precursor to NSA
Focused on intercepting Soviet cables and decrypting them using a very
serious cryptographic error
The FBI, intelligence agencies, and Army explicitly kept the president from
knowing about the program for security reasons
Run by the Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS)
Very little solid information on how the cables were collected, but it is possible
they were acquired via mass surveillance
PROJECT SHAMROCK (1945-1975)
The NSA was given access to microfilm copies of every single telegram that
was sent to, from, or through Western Union, and some of its sub companies
such as ITT and RCA.
Any “useful or interesting information” was passed on to the FBI, the BNDD,
There were no warrants or any court authorization of any kind.
PROJECT SHAMROCK (1945-1975)
An interception of every telegraph entering, leaving, or transiting the United
Although ostensibly for searching out and decrypting for foreign surveillance,
it also explicitly targeted American citizens.
OPERATION CHAOS (1964-1973)
Domestic CIA program that began looking for foreign influences involved in
anti-war movement and potential espionage but ended up attempting
infiltration of the counterculture movement as a whole.
Opened mail to and from USSR, to and from people on watchlists, identified
and surveilled “radical groups”, anti-war movement members, and black
nationalist groups, along with “groups who may pose a threat to CIA agents or