The internet, social media, even the so-called Dark Web are a sprawling Panopticon, a prison without cells and bars where we are watched 24-7 by the national security state and its corporate partners. The NSA and the intelligence community were deeply involved in the creation of the internet and later social media and the Google search engine. By the mid-1990s, the supercomputing community had migrated from universities to Silicon Valley and along with them the NSA and the CIA. Both agencies knew if they were going to exploit the growing amount of digital information for surveillance purposes, they’d need to establish a foothold in Silicon Valley. The NSA, CIA, FBI, Pentagon, and the Department of Homeland Security have consistently targeted domestic political groups in the name of national security. Targets run the gamut from Quakers, antiwar groups, environmentalists, gun rights advocates, and constitutionalists to international human rights organizations. The cybernetic panopticon model is designed to influence behavior and instill paranoia. If you know the state is watching, you may be less inclined to engage in political activity outside the permissible bounds established by the state. The ultimate goal is intimidation and conformity. It has little to do with protecting the American people from terrorism.

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Show Notes

Putin calls internet a 'CIA project' renewing fears of web breakup

ARPANET

A History of Internet Spying

NSA Timeline 1791–2015

Google’s true origin partly lies in CIA and NSA research grants for mass surveillance

Intelligence Community Massive Digital Data Systems Initiative

Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in 'Future' of Web Monitoring

How the CIA made Google

Facebook - the CIA conspiracy

Is the Pentagon Spying on Americans?