We Know All About You : The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America

This Is The Story Of Surveillance In Britain And The United States, From The Detective Agencies Of The Late Nineteenth Century To 'wikileaks' And Cia Whistle-blower Edward Snowden In The Twenty-first. Written By Prize-winning Historian And Intelligence Expert Rhodri Jeffreys-jones, It Is The First Full Overview Of Its Kind. Delving Into The Roles Of Credit Agencies, Private Detectives, And Phone-hacking Journalists As Well As Agencies Like The Fbi And Nsa In The Usa And Gchq And Mi5 In The Uk, Jeffreys-jones Highlights Malpractices Such As The Blacklist And Illegal Electronic Interceptions. He Demonstrates That Several Presidents - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon - Conducted Various Forms Of Political Surveillance, And Also How British Agencies Have Been Under A Constant Cloud Of Suspicion For Similar Reasons. Continuing With An Account Of The 1970s' Leaks That Revealed How The Fbi And Cia Kept Tabs On Anti-vietnam War Protestors, He Assesses The Reform Impulse Of This Era - An Impulse That Began In America And Only Gradually Spread To Britain. 0the End Of The Cold War Further At The End Of The 1980s Then Undermined Confidence In The Need For State Surveillance Still Further, But It Was To Return With A Vengeance After 9/11. What Emerges Is A Story In Which Governments Habitually Abuse Their Surveillance Powers Once Granted, Demonstrating The Need For Proper Controls In This Area. But, As Jeffreys-jones Makes Clear, This Is Not Simply A Story Of The Orwellian State. While Private Sector Firms Have Sometimes Acted As A Brake On Surveillance By The State (particularly In The Electronic Era), They Have Also Often Engaged In Dubious Surveillance Practices Of Their Own. Oversight And Regulation, He Argues, Therefore Need To Be Universal And Not Simply Concentrate On The Threat To The Individual Posed By The Agencies Of Government. Cover; We Know All About You: The Story Of Surveillance In Britain And America; Copyright; Contents; List Of Illustrations; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1: A Survey Of Surveillance; 2: The Private Eye Invades Our Privacy; 3: The Blacklist; 4: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Incipient Surveillance State; 5: Mccarthyism In America; 6: Mccarthyism In Britain; 7: Cointelpro And 1960s Surveillance; 8: An Age Of Transparency; 9: The Intensification Of Surveillance Post-9/11; 10: Private-sector Surveillance In The Twenty-first Century; 11: Snowden; 12: Policy And Reform In The Obama-cameron Era Conclusionappendix: Defining Surveillance; Notes; Introduction; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5; Chapter 6; Chapter 7; Chapter 8; Chapter 9; Chapter 10; Chapter 11; Chapter 12; Appendix; Bibliography; Illustration Credits; Index Rhodri Jeffreys-jones. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 266-277) And Index. We Know All About You shows how bulk spying came of age in the nineteenth century, and supplies the first overarching narrative and interpretation of what has happened since, covering the agencies, programs, personalities, technology, leaks, criticisms and reform. Concentrating on America and Britain, it delves into the roles of credit agencies, private detectives, and phone-hacking journalists as well as government agencies like the NSA and GCHQ, and highlights malpractices such as the blacklist and illegal electronic interceptions. It demonstrates that several presidents - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon - conducted political surveillance, and how British agencies have been under a constant cloud of suspicion for similar reasons. We Know All About You continues with an account of the 1970s leaks that revealed how the FBI and CIA kept tabs on anti-Vietnam War protestors, and assesses the reform impulse that began in America and spread to Britain. The end of the Cold War further undermined confidence in the need for surveillance, but it returned with a vengeance after 9/11. The book shows how reformers challenged that new expansionism, assesses the political effectiveness of the Snowden revelations, and offers an appraisal of legislative initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic. Micro-stories and character sketches of individuals ranging from Pinkerton detective James McParlan to recent whisteblowers illuminate the book. We Know All About You confirms that governments have a record of abusing surveillance powers once granted, but emphasizes that problems arising from private sector surveillance have been particularly neglected.