In the early days of surveillance capitalism in the US, the state’s desire for mass surveillance was met by growing online platforms …

This paper draws on literature from geography, (critical) geopolitics and computer science in order to investigate the physical Internet infrastructure and its implications for the (political) control of information flows.

In this paper, I seek to understand the policy-making process of mass surveillance law in the US. The central puzzle is why — despite completely different majority configurations in Congress, a divided public, numerous proven instances of abuse and questionable effectiveness — the post-9/11 consensus of enabling and enhancing mass surveillance by the intelligence community and their private contractors still holds. While I could not seek to provide a final solution to this puzzle, I propose a theoretical framework which is firmly based in an in-depth case study of a piece of legislation, which insiders call the “crown jewels” of the intelligence community.