Remember ECHELON? Goes back to the '60s...

[TreasonousBastard]

when technology wasn't so hot, but we eventually got satellites to read microwave spillover. It was ostensibly to read Soviet spy stuff, but went way beyond that ove the years.

Domestically, at one point the Supreme Court said you had an expectation of privacy when talking ofer wires, but microwaves were a different story and put you in radio rules. It was a stupid ruling, but nobody explained the differences to the judges. Or they didn't care. Whatever... LE and spy agencies went wild with their new toys.

And it was long before 9/11 or Shrub, although he reveled in it.

Decent overview of current spy stuff:
http://www.cyber-rights.org/interception/stoa/ic2kreport.htm

Overview of domestic and international snooping
http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Domestic_spying

And, some older goodies...

http://sourcewatch.org/index.php/Carnivore

"The Carnivore device works much like commercial 'sniffers' and other network diagnostic tools used by ISPs every day, except that it provides the FBI with a unique ability to distinguish between communications which may be lawfully intercepted and those which may not. For example, if a court order provides for the lawful interception of one type of communication (e.g., e-mail), but excludes all other communications (e.g., online shopping) the Carnivore tool can be configured to intercept only those e-mails being transmitted either to or from the named subject."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

The ability to intercept communications depends on the medium used, be it radio, satellite, microwave, cellular or fiber-optic.[6] During World War II and through the 1950s, high frequency ("short wave&quot radio was widely used for military and diplomatic communication,[7] and could be intercepted at great distances.[6] The rise of geostationary communications satellites in the 1960s presented new possibilities for intercepting international communications. The report to the European Parliament of 2001 states: "If UKUSA states operate listening stations in the relevant regions of the earth, in principle they can intercept all telephone, fax and data traffic transmitted via such satellites."[6]

[Octafish]

1. NSA technology was never intended to be used on Americans.

Yet, here we are. Or, were.