THREAT OPS › Threat News › 25 Years of Mass Surveillance Is Enough
25 Years of Mass Surveillance Is Enough
<p><em>This essay was written with Cindy Cohn, and originally appeared in <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/25-years-of-mass-surveillance-is-enough">Lawfare</a>.</em></p> <p>One of the many legacies of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 is the government-wide shift from targeted surveillance—such as individual wiretaps or pen register/trap and trace orders—to mass surveillan
MITRE ATT&CK techniques
- Artificial IntelligenceT1588.007
Indicators of compromise
- 2a93bc075e2f7ffcca9e04a35d75a3femd5
- 22383d541b3bc45c9145e85da4824e10md5
- https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/25-years-of-mass-surveillance-is-enoughurl
- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/rights-organizations-demand-halt-mobile-fortify-ices-handheld-face-recognitionurl
- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/how-cops-are-using-flock-safetys-alpr-network-surveil-protesters-and-activistsurl
- https://freespeechproject.georgetown.edu/tracker-entries/madison-square-gardens-use-of-facial-recognition-technology-to-bar-certain-lawyers-stirs-protests/url
- https://apnews.com/article/flock-license-plate-cameras-surveillance-deflock-2a93bc075e2f7ffcca9e04a35d75a3feurl
- https://fedscoop.com/fbi-data-broker-loophole-purchase-dhs/url
- https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=56791url
- https://www.justsecurity.org/10396/newly-released-nsa-documents-reveal-omnivorous-appetite-private-data/url
- https://www.pclob.gov/library/215-Report_on_the_Telephone_Records_Program.pdfurl
- https://www.newamerica.org/insights/do-nsas-bulk-surveillance-programs-stop-terrorists/url
- https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/brown-university-mit-professor-shooting-flock-cameras-car/url
- https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/surveillance-memos-and-suggestion-jack-goldsmithurl
- https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2013/item/869-dni-statement-on-the-collection-of-telephone-metadata-under-section-215-of-the-usa-patriot-acturl
- https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/second-circuit-strikes-down-215-programurl
- https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr2048/texturl
- https://documents.pclob.gov/prod/Documents/OversightReport/1c3c0f5a-3e4b-4f3f-9e6b-2c1b7a4e0f7b/702-Report-2.pdfurl
- https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-2010-title50-section1881a&num=0&edition=2010url
- https://jsis.washington.edu/news/controversy-comparisons-data-collection-fisas-section-702/#_ftn27url
- https://necessaryandproportionate.org/principles/url
- https://maps.deflock.org/?lat=39.8283&lng=-98.5795&zoom=4.00url
- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/05/she-got-abortion-so-texas-cop-used-83000-cameras-track-her-downurl
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/how-tsa-facial-recognition-actually-works-and-what-travelers-should-know/ar-AA27UDf4url
- https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/nyregion/madison-square-garden-facial-recognition.htmlurl
- https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/att/generalwarrantsmemo.pdfurl
- https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/section-702-foreign-intelligence-surveillance-acturl
- https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2016/05/stanford-computer-scientists-show-telephone-metadata-can-reveal-surprisingly-sensitive-personal-informationurl
- https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/442/735/url
- https://www.fisc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/BR%2013-158%20Primary%20Order.pdfurl
- https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/02/jewel-v-nsa-making-sense-disappointing-decision-over-mass-surveillanceurl
- https://slate.com/technology/2023/12/ai-mass-spying-internet-surveillance.htmlurl
- https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/chilling-effects/22383D541B3BC45C9145E85DA4824E10url
- https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/opinion/911-patriot-act-trump-politics.htmlurl
- https://www.techpolicy.press/rep-zoe-lofgren-on-fisa-surveillance-and-the-fourth-amendment/url
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/09/loveint-on-his-first-day-of-work-nsa-employee-spied-on-ex-girlfriend/url
- https://ij.org/the-ij-database-of-alpr-abuse/url
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2026/ice-surveillance-immigrants-protesters/url
- https://www.democracynow.org/2026/1/29/ice_cbp_facial_recognition_technology_appurl
- https://www.justsecurity.org/66595/the-fisa-courts-702-opinions-part-i-a-history-of-non-compliance-repeats-itself/url