By 1984 there was already the ability to spy on everything. The Internet just made it real easy to do it.
“By 1984 there was already the ability to spy on everything. The Internet just made it real easy to do it.”
True.
The internet was the installation of the final piece needed to spy on anyone at anytime and have real time intelligence.
Side note...
When I was driving long haul I picked up a partial load of used analog telephone equipment. All of it was delivered to the McLean office of Bell Atlantic.
It seems certain government agencies weren’t on board with going digital and had no plans to in the future. I do know that one floor of the McLean office was dedicated to intelligence and law enforcement arms of the alphabet variety.