“The Big Snoop:” Life Magazine Cover Story Exposes Government Spying
A Life magazine cover story, “The Big Snoop,” exposed intrusive surveillance by federal agencies, including the IRS and the Post Office. The story was based on the hearings by Missouri Senator Edward V. Long and reflected growing public concern about privacy and the dangers of government snooping (see April 8, 1965).
The full story of spying and other abuses by the federal intelligence agencies was not known until the post-Watergate investigations by the Senate Church Committee (created on January 27, 1975) and the House Pike Committee (created on February 19, 1975).
The Church Committee published a set of reports documenting the violations of the rights of Americans by several federal agencies: the FBI (wiretapping, electronic surveillance, opening mail); the CIA (opening mail, secretly funding individual writers and reporters and funding organizations); the Post Office (opening mail); and various branches of the military. All the Church Committee reports are available on line here.
Read: Edward V. Long, The Intruders: The Invasion of Privacy by Government and Industry (1967)
Read the Life magazine article: http://books.google.com/books?id=LlYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38&dq=spying&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UAmyUeW3FcTA0AGFxYD4Aw&ved=0CFgQ6AEwBw%20-%20v=onepage&q=spying&f=false#v=onepage&q&f=false
Learn more at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse: https://www.privacyrights.org/
Read about the history of privacy: Sarah Igo, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America (2020)