Surveillance Through the Centuries

AMERICA’S FIRST WIRETAPPING conviction happened in 1864. A stockbroker named D.C. Williams had been tapping a telegraph line in California to get corporate information, which he used for advantageous stock trades. The law he broke had been passed two years earlier, making California the first state to regulate wiretapping.

The telephone had not been invented yet, and the transcontinental telegraph had only just been completed. The Golden State’s legislators were ahead of the game. Ever since then, legislation dealing with electronic surveillance has been playing catch-up—both with the technology and with public sentiment.

In the early days of the telegraph, privacy was a difficult issue to address. It was impossible to expect or demand that only the addressee could see