That&#x27;s true. J Edgar Hoover did do this. Of course, Hoover is also one of the great villains of US history, and there was a major course-correction in the 1970s regarding the legal process federal law enforcement has to adhere to.<p>&quot;The FBI is run by the modern equivalent of J. Edgar Hoover&quot; is also an amusing and dramatic interpretation of the facts we have now. But they don&#x27;t square well with other facts we know, such as Ashcroft&#x27;s hospital-bed refusal to reauthorize STELLARWIND. And that was John Ashcroft, who is not exactly a cuddly Sesame Street muppet on these issues.<p>In case I need to make this clear:<p>I don&#x27;t think sacrificing the integrity of online services for DOJ goals is a good tradeoff. The wins seem very marginal, and the long-term costs are huge. But I&#x27;m a technologist with a security&#x2F;privacy concentration, and Congress is composed mostly of lawyers.