This sort of public spying has been documented since at least 1959.<p>This _particular_ public spying was reported at least since 2012.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;post45.research.yale.edu&#x2F;2016&#x2F;02&#x2F;eavesdropping-in-the-age-of-the-eavesdroppers-or-the-bug-in-the-martini-olive&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;post45.research.yale.edu&#x2F;2016&#x2F;02&#x2F;eavesdropping-in-the...</a><p><i>&quot;In July 1956, the Pennsylvania Bar Association Endowment (PBAE) commissioned a comprehensive study of &quot;wiretapping practices, laws, devices, and techniques&quot; in the United States. [..] The man appointed to direct the study was Samuel Dash, a prominent Philadelphia prosecutor [..] The result of Dash&#x27;s efforts was The Eavesdroppers, a 483-page report [..] The book uncovered a wide range of privacy infringements on the part of state authorities and private citizens [..]<p>While law enforcement agencies were tapping lines in flagrant violation of state and federal statutes, phone companies were deliberately underreporting wiretap statistics to maintain public confidence in their services.  While American businesses were stockpiling equipment to spy on employees and gather competitive intelligence, private investigators were using frightening new tools to listen in on wayward lovers and loose-lipped politicians.&quot;</i><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.infowars.com&#x2F;spy-grid-can-now-record-your-conversations-in-real-time&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.infowars.com&#x2F;spy-grid-can-now-record-your-convers...</a> (2013)<p><i>&quot;The Washington Post recently published a feature length article on gunshot detectors, known as ShotSpotter, which detailed how in Washington DC there are now, “at least 300 acoustic sensors across 20 square miles of the city,” microphones wrapped in a weather-proof shell that can detect the location of a sound down to a few yards and analyze the audio using a computer program.<p>𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 “𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬,” 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟐, 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟕𝟎 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. &quot;</i><p>--<p>This quote from the 1959 report sums up everything nicely:<p><i>&quot;As Dash told members of Congress on the eve of the book&#x27;s release, the American public&#x27;s longstanding disregard for threats to communications privacy had only served to exacerbate these developments. [..]<p>&#x27;Each generation seems to forget the problems of the past and considers this their own unique problem.&#x27; - Samuel Dash&quot;</i>