The world got a first glimpse into the US government’s far-reaching surveillance of American citizens’ communications – namely, their Verizon telephone calls – 10 years ago this week when Edward Snowden’s initial leaks hit the press.
Verizon, we all learned, had handed over information to the US National Security Agency (NSA) on all calls in its systems on a daily basis, under a top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) order.
Thousands more secret documents were subsequently published by journalists in the days and years to come, followed by lawsuits, privacy-enabling tech and – more slowly – some transparency into and reforms of Uncle Sam’s domestic spying efforts.
At least that’s what lawmakers, digital privacy and civil liberties advocates tell us. It’s always hard to know for sure when you’re dealing with classified, top-secret domestic spying programs.