In 1791, the Bill of Rights is implemented in the United States and includes provisions to protect citizen’s rights to privacy. The Fourth Amendment allows for “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”


In 1935, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, or FBI, was organized as a response to the threat of communists in America. The Bureau conducted some of the first electronic surveillance, wire-tapping phones. They were legally allowed to do so because of the 1927 ruling in Olmstead vs. United States, which stated that wire-tapping did not violate the 4th Amendment.


In 1945, the CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency was formed, and in 1952, President Harry S. Truman formed the National Security Agency, or NSA, prompted by the sterling work of codebreakers to the victory effort in World War II. These two agency conducted domestic security, while the FBI was left to investigate international affairs, meaning that most government spying on US citizens going forward would come the CIA and NSA.


1967, Charles Katz walks into a telephone booth in Los Angeles and gets busted by the FBI for illegal gambling. The problem? They didn’t get a warrant for the wiretap they used. The case goes to the Supreme Court, and in a landmark decision the Supreme Court rules that the 4th Amendment does protect non-tangible possessions such as phone calls and a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’ in places such as the home, the office, a hotel room or a phone booth. If the authorities wanted to examine these places, they needed a warrant.


​In the later 1960's President Lyndon B. Johnson instructed to CIA to surveil citizens that opposed to Vietnam War. Under the codename CHAOS, the CIA was able to infiltrate the antiwar movement, and the program was eventually expanded under President Richard Nixon. Estimates have stated that CHAOS held an index of 300,000 names being watched, with extensive files on over 7,200 citizens.


1972, the Watergate Scandal highlights abuses of power by the White House, revealed to the world, forcing President Nixon to resign or risk impeachment.


1975, Frank Church’s senate select committee investigates the intelligence activities of the FBI and CIA, uncovering hundreds of hours of unwarranted wiretapping and electronic surveillance.


1995, the first court ordered wiretap leads to the arrest of Julio Ardita, who used Harvard computers to access government websites.


Following the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, the Patriot Act is established. This gives the government unprecedented access to wiretapping and surveillance. It gives government agencies the ability to create roving wiretaps that extended the warrants for investigations to suspects not just devices. Section 215 of the act allows the government to obtain records or “tangible things” from third parties if they are deemed “relevant” to international terrorism.


In 2005, the New York Times breaks a story showing government surveillance all the way back to 2002, including warrantless wiretapping of 1000s of US citizens.


In 2007, the Protect America Act amended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which removed the warrant requirement for government surveillance of foreign intelligence targets and allowed the domestic monitoring of all electronic communications of “Americans communicating with foreigners who are the targets of oversight


2009, The New York Times reports that the NSA is involved in “significant and systemic” “overcollection” of domestic communications.”

2010, President Obama signs an extension to expiring portions of the Patriot Act.


2012, The New York Times reports that cell phone carriers had positively responded to 1.3 million demands by law enforcement for subscriber information - a dramatic increase in cell phone surveillance in the preceding five years.


2013, Edward Snowden publicly releases classified NSA documents to the Guardian and Washington Post about a program called Prism. The data leak shows the government’s secret collection of data from commonly used programs such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and so on. The method, the sources and the sheer amount of data collected, shocks the United States. In response, an advisory panel to the White House recommends a de-escalation of the NSA’s surveillance program and powers.


2014, President Obama announces reforms that reduce the NSA’s powers and autonomy to collect private data


2015, The USA Freedom Act is passed which ends the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records and shifts the responsibility to phone companies. The data can now only be legally obtained through a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and only for specific individuals