How Surveillance Tech Erodes Your Privacy | Jen Golbeck | TED

There are over 100,000. automated license plate reading cameras. in this country. And when you drive past. one, they don't just record your license. plate, though they do that, too. They. record the make and model of your car, the color, distinguishing marks like. dents and scratches, and even your. bumper stickers. So, if you were to take. your license plate off, they still know. that car belongs to you. And when you. drive past a camera, the location and.

the time is recorded in the list of. places they know you've been. So, if you were to become the victim of. a stalker who works in law enforcement, could they use that network to monitor. your movements? They can, and they have. If there is a demonstration in your town. for gun rights or civil rights, and the. government takes an interest, could they. use this network to get a list of. everyone who drove to or even who drove. past that protest? They can, and they have. And if you live.

in a state where abortion is illegal, and you self-administer one, and your. family disapproves, after you fled from. them and left the state, can they go to. law enforcement and have your movements. around the country tracked? They can, and they have. It's one of the thousands of ways that. all of our movements are monitored every. day. Our cars are recording our. acceleration and speed and braking, sharing that with data brokers who sell. access to car insurance companies who.

use it to change our rates. Our phones monitor our interactions, not. just with apps, though they do that, too, but our movements through physical. space, every business we enter, and the. identities of people who are nearby. On the web, every click, every search, every fraction of a second our eyes. linger on a piece of content is. recorded, and we're followed across the. web into our patient portals at our. doctor's office and into forums we. thought were private.

And what we found is that if technology. makes something possible and that. something is profitable, companies will. do it pretty much regardless of the. ethics. And this kind of surveillance. pricing is in use on the web for. everything from airline tickets to. clothes, but now it's following us. offline and meeting us in stores. Companies make billions of dollars a. year using data from us that was. collected without our permission. and that they employ without our.

consent. But these systems don't exist just for. commerce. They exist to build detailed. dossiers of our thoughts, habits, and. actions that can be used to manipulate. our behavior or weaponized against us. Data that law enforcement would require. a warrant to collect if they did it. directly, they now can just go buy for a. few dollars from private companies with. no court order and no probable cause. The surveillance allows them to.

circumvent the protections that we have. written into law. And I don't know about you, but if this. is supposed to be the land of the free, it suddenly doesn't feel like it. We have a name for this kind of system. When the government and corporations go. into a place and engage in extraction, taking away private property, resources, land, value, and labor from people, concentrating it for themselves, and. then using it to keep that system in. place, we call it colonialism. And America's days as a British colony.

may be long over, but we have slid into. a new form of colonialism, not at the. hands of foreign powers and plantation. owners and trading companies, but at the. hands of tech companies and government. agencies. And this is called data colonialism. The idea of data colonialism describes. when governments and corporations. extract data from people and use it to. generate profits and exert control. >> [snorts]. >> And it's a system that we can see in. place and in operation every day.

For example, Airlines Reporting. Corporation is a data broker owned by. the major airlines in the US and they. sell our flight records to the. government including to Customs and. Border Protection. Clearview AI has built facial. recognition technology using images. taken from social media and the web. without permission and they sell that. facial recognition to immigration. officials including ICE. Cambridge Analytica built detailed.

psychological insights on millions of. Americans using stolen social media data. and they sold that to politicians who. were running for office who turned. around and used it to micro-target us. with Facebook ads designed to manipulate. our vote. And these companies take their profits. and use them to lobby those same. politicians to make sure they enact. policies that keep this system in place. Data colonialism is fundamentally.

incompatible with democracy because. democracy requires that power be held in. the hands of the people and that we're. governed with our consent. But under this system, regardless of how. our data is used, the surveillance. itself undermines core principles of. democracy so foundational that we wrote. them into the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech which is chilled under. profiling and the destruction of. anonymity. Freedom of association which is eroded. under the surveillance of our.

interactions and communications and. relationships. The right to due process which. disappears in the darkness of opaque. algorithms that make decisions about us. with our extracted data and protection. from unreasonable search and seizure. that can't exist when our now digital. lives are constantly monitored and data. mined and monetized. But the system is so huge that it can. feel powerless to stand in the face of. it.

But we shouldn't feel powerless and in. fact for all the division in our country. right now, this is an issue that can. unite us because data colonialism. violates [clears throat] values that are. core to liberals and conservatives on. the left and the right. It diminishes the meaning of limited. government, of personal responsibility, of private property. It weakens freedom. and equality and civil rights and the. value of consent. And the wild power that it concentrates. in the hands of corporations and.

government agencies diminishes the power. of the people, which is where it needs. to reside for democracy to thrive. And. it is far past time for us to revolt. against that. But how do you do it in the face of a. system that is so big and omnipresent? I don't want you to feel powerless. because you're not. There are things. that you can do today to start fighting. against this. You can start with the systems that are. closest to you. For example, do you own. a video doorbell?

Last year Ring announced a partnership. with Flock Safety who operates those. license plate cameras that would have. integrated your doorbell footage into. their network and given access to law. enforcement. But this year Ring canceled that. partnership after a backlash from their. customers. Yeah. >> [applause]. >> Similarly, Kroger, the grocery store, was going to test camera-enabled shelf. labels in their stores, but after people. threatened to boycott and Congress was.

investigating, they canceled that plan. as well. >> [applause]. >> So look for these ways that surveillance. is trying to creep into your life and. they are going to tempt you with. convenience, and you have to tell them. no. Become incredibly annoying to. corporations for the sake of democracy. because history shows that you can win. But this isn't enough to take down data. colonialism. We need to do more. So in your cities, in your counties,

even your homeowners association, see if. they have contracts with surveillance. companies. Show up to town meetings and city halls. when these issues are being discussed. Demand they turn over records. Insist. that contracts be canceled. Are they. letting data centers in that will take. your land and divert your water and tax. your power grid? Insist that those. permits be denied. And what is likely to happen is that. your elected officials will not listen. the first or the second time, but keep.

fighting, and if they refuse, vote them. out of office because you can work to. make your communities as safe as. possible from the influence of this. system. At the state and federal level, we are. so long overdue for fundamental reforms. in the way we think about data. ownership, privacy, and corporate. governance. There's a lot of work to do. there. But one place that we can start. is by stopping the government from. getting around the protections of. requiring a warrant where they just buy.

our data from private companies. >> [applause]. >> The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance. Act, FISA, expressly prohibits the. government from doing bulk data. collection on US citizens, but the. government has frequently gotten around. that by buying the data from private. companies. The FBI is doing this now. This so-called data broker loophole. could be closed every time Congress. reauthorizes FISA. The amendment to. close it failed on a tie vote.

And this year, they didn't even let the. amendment come to the floor. FISA has. lapsed, and it's a stark reminder of how. colonialism re-entrenches itself by. subverting democracy. So, talk to your. representatives and tell them to close. the data broker loophole, and look at. the state and local level as well. So, your government and law and fish law. enforcement officials are not getting. around the legal protections that we. have over our data by going to private.

companies who have collected it without. our consent and sell it to them with no. protection. 250 years ago, the founders said that. when a system of government becomes. oppressive, even if that's embodied in. part in corporations, it's our right and. our duty to throw it off. Our data belongs to us. It's valuable. and it's powerful, but when it's. extracted, that value and power is taken. out of our hands. Under data colonialism, you are being. exploited by a system that oppresses.

you, taking your data and using it to. diminish the rights and protections that. we hold foundational to our democracy. You should be angry, but you shouldn't. feel powerless because today's the day. that you can commit to join the fight to. dismantle data colonialism, reclaiming. the power of our data into the hands of. the people, and ensuring the future of. our democracy. Thank you. >> [applause].