The U.S. acknowledgment of massive Internet and telephone spying operations is a surprise only to those who do not remember history.

The Black Panthers and the New Left of the 1960s were spied on by "COINTELPRO," a secret program created by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1956. Originally part of the hunt for "Communists" in America, it soon targeted other groups, including civil rights organizations. The secrecy ended in 1971, when activists stole documents exposing the program from an FBI field office.

In 1976, a U.S. Senate Committee examined spying by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Security Agency (NSA). The Church Committee issued a series of findings and recommended reforms, some of which were put into place. The findings and recommendations continue to be debated in each round of more spying.