October 26, 2001:
USA PATRIOT Act signed into law by President George W. Bush. "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001."
2002: The Pentagon is discovered to be developing advanced surveillance technology for the federal government within a new agency: the Total Information Awareness program (TIA).
March 7, 2006:
House approves PATRIOT Act renewal. By May, USA Today reports of NSA phone call surveillance through telecom companies. Former AT&T technician reveals the NSA's fiber-optic monitoring of Internet and phone traffic since 2002.
July 10, 2008:
President George W. Bush signs the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008 into law. Furthers warrantless wiretapping and gives telecom companies immunity for releasing customer data without a warrant.
2011 - 2012: On May 27, 2011, The PATRIOT Act is renewed by President Barack Obama. In 2012, he would then sign a five year extension of the FISA Act. Amendments concerning oversight of surveillance are defeated in the senate.
June, 2013:
Publication of the Edward Snowden leaks reveal cases of NSA phone call data collection across millions of Americans. Additionally, existence of the secret surveillance program, PRISM, is revealed.
August 15, 2013:
More Snowden information shows that the NSA had gone beyond legal authority thousands of times every year since 2008.
August 29, 2013:
$52.6 billion dollar "Black Budget" revealed. United States spendings on surveillance operations, analysis, data collection, etc.
December, 2015:
Presidential candidate Donald Trump explains support for data collection citing national security concerns.
April 3, 2017:
President Donald Trump signs bill allowing Internet service providers to sell user browsing data.
- TO BE CONTINUED -