Bike Auction, Oct. 9, UC Davis

for ever bigger, ever
* faster machines on which to collect, collate, and cross-reference data
* on hundreds of millions of honest, law-abiding, and totally unsuspecting
* individuals. And not only in America, but in many other countries as
* well. Including, as we shall see, Australia.

[
"The Rise of the Computer State", David Burnham, 1984

p134: ...the technical advances that were occurring did so not entirely
by chance. The computers' ability to acquire, organize, store and
retrieve huge amounts of data was an essential factor leading to the
broad definition of intelligence that was fostered by the National
Security Agency and its godfather, the National Security Council.

Computer research was supported by NSA in a major way by secret research
dollars. Thomas C. Reed, Director of the Pentagon's Telecommunications,
Command and Control System, referring to domestic intercity telephone
microwave radio trunks, said in 1975, "Modern computer techniques make
it possible to sort through that traffic and find target conversations
easily."

p126-127: Since the wiretap law barred the Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs from installing a tap on New York City's Grand Central
Station pay phones, bureau head John Ingersoll asked the NSA for help.

Within a few months the spy agency was sorting through all the
conversations it was already acquiring for general intelligence
purposes.

Of course, the technicians were required to acquire, monitor, and
discard a large number of calls made by people with no connection
with the cocaine business in South America