The first notable incident of domestic spying took place circa World War II and was designated the title Operation SHAMROCK. The scandal involved the infiltration of foreign telegraphs and involved three major carriers, including ITT World Communications (ITT), RCA Global (RCA), and Western Union Telegraph Company(WU). Any telegraph sent from the U.S. to a foreign country, from a foreign country to the U.S., or from one foreign country to another passing through the U.S. was intercepted and analyzed for threat. Messages were sorted based on threat level and sent to one of the main offices of the Army Signal Security Agency (ASSA) in New York, San Francisco or Washington D.C. for microfilming.The telegraph companies were granted immunity from any sort of legal repercussions in response to their collective concern on the ethics of intercepting domestic messages. They were also convinced that the matter was solely in the best interest of national security. Once they complied with the government on these matters, RCA and ITT devoted fully to the cause by allowing the Army complete access to all telegraphs of questionable intent. WU made the decision to have employees sort through the telegraphs prior to sending those selected to the Army for further analysis. Either way, the participation of the telegraph companies represented the first real cooperation between government and the market in domestic surveillance. The manner in doing so involved one of the most important technological developments of the 20th century—the telegraph—and ultimately foreshadowed the government’s utility of the digital world.
Helicopter Democracy 