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Sound waves.

Listening Devices

The veterans of Kagnew Station saw the early growth of the surveillance state. Has the passage of time given them a new understanding of their work?
by Ann Neumann via The Baffler on January 6, 2025
Italian Americans watch a policeman arrest a man
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The Surveillance of Immigrants Remade American Policing

Modern surveillance policing is rooted in approaches adopted a century ago.
by Matthew Guariglia via Made By History on November 21, 2023
Demonstrators at the March on Washington in 1963.

A Dark, Untold Story About the March on Washington Has Just Been Revealed

Police from as far away as Alabama were watching.
by Joshua Clark Davis via Slate on August 28, 2023
A researcher holds a magnifying glass to an archival photograph.

Looking for a Lineage in the Lusk Archive

The records of a New York surveillance committee from the time of the First Red Scare document a radical world—and its demise.
by Ben Nadler, Oksana Mironova via Jewish Currents on July 18, 2023
Whistleblower Edward Snowden addresses an audience at a conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 2019.

Ten Years Ago, Edward Snowden Blew the Whistle on the US’s Most Secretive Spy Agency

The government responded with ruthless persecution — just one egregious example in the NSA’s long, sordid history of fiercely guarding its secrecy.
by Chip Gibbons via Jacobin on June 9, 2023
Agnes Wilkinson, Ahmeenah Young, and Aishah Shahidah Simmons.

Black Power Meets Police Power

The experiences of Michael and Zoharah Simmons show that the fight against the carceral state is embedded in a larger project of building a just world.
by Dan Berger via Inquest on January 24, 2023
J. Edgar Hoover in 1924.

How J. Edgar Hoover Went From Hero to Villain

Before his abuses of power were exposed, he was celebrated as a scourge of Nazis, Communists, and subversives.
by Jack Goldsmith via The Atlantic on November 22, 2022
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on stage giving a presentation below a screen showing pictures of people connected by the Facebook network.

How Capitalism—Not a Few Bad Actors—Destroyed the Internet

Twenty-five years of neoliberal political economy are to blame for today's regime of surveillance advertising, and only public policy can undo it.
by Matthew Crain via Boston Review on August 3, 2022
Photograph of Chinese man in Sierra County with his name and description next to him.

The Dark Purpose Behind a Town Constable’s Journal

Why did a local official, at the turn of the twentieth century, maintain a ledger tracking Chinese residents?
by Michael Luo via The New Yorker on January 28, 2022
The picture is a photo collage of three men against the background of an atomic bomb explosion. Pictured from left to right is Ed Hall, Ted Hall, and former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

One Brother Gave the Soviets the A-Bomb. The Other Got a Medal.

J. Edgar Hoover had both of them in his sights. Yet neither one was ever arrested. The untold story of how the Hall brothers beat the FBI.
by Dave Lindorff via The Nation on January 4, 2022
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The Dark Side of Campus Efforts to Stop Covid-19

Expanding campus police forces’ power threatens to increase surveillance.
by Grace Watkins via Made By History on September 14, 2020

The Intelligence Coup of the Century

For decades, the CIA read the encrypted communications of allies and adversaries.
by Greg Miller via Washington Post on February 11, 2020
Police body cam

The American Tradition of Anti-Black Vigilantism

The history of patrols, body cams, and more.
by Darryl Pinckney via Literary Hub on November 18, 2019
Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

Information the FBI Once Hoped Could Destroy Martin Luther King Jr. Has Been Declassified

Revealing these materials could be considered “Hoover’s revenge.”
by Trevor Griffey via The Conversation on May 30, 2019
"The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" book cover

Thieves of Experience: How Google and Facebook Corrupted Capitalism

By reengineering the economy and society to their own benefit, Google and Facebook are undermining personal freedom and corroding democracy.
by Nicholas Carr via Los Angeles Review of Books on January 15, 2019

In America's Panopticon

Sarah Igo’s "The Known Citizen" examines the linked histories of privacy and surveillance in the United States.
by Katie Fitzpatrick via The Nation on December 6, 2018
James Comey, a tall white man in a suit, receiving a certificate in front of wall with a "Birmingham Civil Rights Institute" sign and a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Under Comey's Leadership, the FBI Targeted Black Activists and Muslim Communities

This is the man who has criticized the FBI's surveillance of Martin Luther King as "shameful."
by Jeanne Theoharis via The Intercept on April 24, 2018

Biometric Hand Scans and Reinforced Concrete: The History of the Secret FISA Court

The roots of the influential institution at the center of the Trump-Russia investigation.
by Ian Shapira via Washington Post on February 9, 2018

The Big Picture: Black Women Activists and the FBI

For more than a century, the American government has surveilled and harassed activists from marginalized communities.
by Ashley D. Farmer via Public Books on November 21, 2017

Hunting Down Runaway Slaves: The Cruel Ads of Andrew Jackson and the 'Master Class'

A historian collecting runaway slave ads describes them as “the tweets of the master class.”
by DaNeen L. Brown via Retropolis on May 1, 2017
Security camera

Credit Bureaus Were the NSA of the 19th Century

They were enormous, tech-savvy, and invasive in their methods—and they enlisted Abraham Lincoln into their ranks.
by Sarah Jeong via The Atlantic on April 21, 2016
Edward Abbey stands in the desert.

Edward Abbey’s FBI File

"If the times have changed, Abbey’s ideas about freedom have in some ways never been more relevant."
by David Gessner via Orion Magazine on January 5, 2015

A Look Inside James Baldwin’s 1,884 Page FBI File

Memos on "aliases," sexuality, and The Blood Counters.
by William J. Maxwell via Literary Hub on July 8, 1964
A man walks in the sun near palm trees and their small shadows.

How America Became Hostile to Shade

A roving history makes the case for shade’s centrality to public health, climate adaptation, and even a more robust and inclusive public sphere.
by Piper French via The New Republic on July 30, 2025
A pride flag framing the US Capitol building.
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The Lavender Scare and the History of LGBTQ Exclusion

The rollback of LGBTQ rights echoes a deeply consequential chapter of American history: the Lavender Scare.
by Joel Zapata via Made By History on June 20, 2025
Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reimagined as Atlanta Cop City dripping blood.

From the Atlanta Race Massacre to Cop City: The AJC Incites Harm

The AJC wielded its editorial power to pave the path for Cop City and the 1906 race massacre, directly harming Black Atlantans.
by Aja Arnold via Scalawag on June 11, 2025
A New Method of Macarony Making, as practised at Boston,” Carrington Bowles, London, October 12, 1774. (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)

Ruling Rebels

How the Sons of Liberty became colonial power-brokers.
by Daniel Carrigy via Journal of the American Revolution on May 29, 2025
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Helms, framed by a camera shutter.

Is Spying Un-American?

Espionage has always been with us, but its rapid growth over the past century may have undermined trust in government.
by James Santel via The Atlantic on May 8, 2025
Stack of Newspapers.

A Brief History of America’s Campaign Against Dissident Newsmaking

On underground presses and state violence.
by Aaron Boehmer via Literary Hub on March 26, 2025
Men work in an FBI office.

FBI and CIA Conducted Illegal Surveillance of 1960s Student Activists in the South

Newly declassified records reveal how paranoia about subversion in conservative states resulted in major constitutional violations.
by Jeremy Kuzmarov via CovertAction Magazine on March 13, 2025
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