How the US government spies on people who protest -- including you
1,310,186 views | Jennifer Granick • TEDxStanford
What's stopping the American government from recording your phone calls, reading your emails and monitoring your location? Very little, says surveillance and cybersecurity counsel Jennifer Granick. The government collects all kinds of information about you easily, cheaply and without a warrant -- and if you've ever participated in a protest or attended a gun show, you're likely a person of interest. Learn more about your rights, your risks and how to protect yourself in the golden age of surveillance.
What's stopping the American government from recording your phone calls, reading your emails and monitoring your location? Very little, says surveillance and cybersecurity counsel Jennifer Granick. The government collects all kinds of information about you easily, cheaply and without a warrant -- and if you've ever participated in a protest or attended a gun show, you're likely a person of interest. Learn more about your rights, your risks and how to protect yourself in the golden age of surveillance.
This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxStanford, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
Read more about TEDx.About the speaker
Jennifer Granick fights for civil liberties in the age of surveillance and powerful digital technology.
Tim Weiner | Random House, 2013 | Book
Enemies: A History of the FBI
Tim Weiner’s book tells a long story of the FBI abusing power and targeting political activists, including left wing groups in the civil rights and women’s rights movements. It’s not just about J. Edgar Hoover. The abuses are about the absence of a political counterweight to Presidential power.
Jennifer Stisa Granick | Cambridge University Press, 2017 | Book
American Spies: Modern Surveillance, Why You Should Care, And What To Do About It
I’m an expert in surveillance law, but I thought that the public was lacking a book that put the Big Picture together in a clear, compelling, and accurate way, so I wrote American Spies. As one of the reporters who broke the Snowden stories wrote of it, “Granick knows what she is talking about and she will make you care if you follow along.” The book won the Palmer Civil Liberties Prize for 2016.
| Explore
Just Security Blog
I’m a founding editor of Just Security Blog which offers a rigorous analysis of U.S. national security law and policy from some of the smartest people on the planet. The “Just” part in the name is no accident. I think some of us were tired of seeing national security discussed as if the only thing that mattered were narrowly-defined U.S. security interests and not justice or human rights.
| Book
James Bamford's histories of the NSA
James Bamford is the preeminent historian on the NSA and its spying efforts throughout history. When he wrote The Puzzle Palace, many Americans had never heard of the agency. Today, it is regularly in the news, thanks to Edward Snowden. But to put the Snowden revelations in context, Bamford’s histories are the place to start.
The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency America’s Most Secret Intelligence Organization (New York: Penguin Books, 1983).
The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America (Doubleday, 2008)
Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency (New York: Random House, 2002).
The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency America’s Most Secret Intelligence Organization (New York: Penguin Books, 1983).
The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America (Doubleday, 2008)
Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency (New York: Random House, 2002).
Charlie Savage | Little, Brown and Company, 2015 | Book
Power Wars: Inside Obama’s Post-9/11 Presidency
Charlie Savage’s book isn’t easy reading. It’s a painful story of how under President Obama all three branches of the U.S. government legitimized expansive secret surveillance, as well as torture, kidnapping, and more in the name of national security. It’s also a complicated, comprehensive, extraordinarily well-researched book.
Harvey Silverglate | Encounter Books, 2011 | Book
Three Felonies a Day
"I have nothing to hide because I haven’t done anything wrong." Yeah, right. Silverglate explains how criminal law is so amorphous and extensive, you have definitely done something illegal. Maybe even three felonies a day.
Michelle Alexander | The New Press, 2012 | Book
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Everyone in this country should read Michelle Alexander’s book. Through discriminatory anti-drug laws, we have disabled African-Americans from voting, getting jobs, and from housing contributing towards a permanent race-based underclass…just like Jim Crow. Once you know how the criminal justice system works, you’ll understand why unfettered access to private data is a recipe for political abuses.
Learn more
About TEDx
TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.
This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxStanford, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.
Read more about TEDx.