TEDGlobal 2014
Catherine Crump: The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you
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A very unsexy-sounding piece of technology could mean that the police know where you go, with whom, and when: the automatic license plate reader. These cameras are innocuously placed all across small-town America to catch known criminals, but as lawyer and TED Fellow Catherine Crump shows, the data they collect in aggregate could have disastrous consequences for everyone the world over.
Catherine Crump - Attorney + privacy advocate
Catherine Crump is an assistant clinical professor at Berkeley Law School who focuses on the laws around data and surveillance. Full bio
Catherine Crump is an assistant clinical professor at Berkeley Law School who focuses on the laws around data and surveillance. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
The shocking police crackdown
on protestors in Ferguson, Missouri,
on protestors in Ferguson, Missouri,
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in the wake of the police
shooting of Michael Brown,
shooting of Michael Brown,
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underscored the extent to which advanced
military weapons and equipment,
military weapons and equipment,
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designed for the battlefield,
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are making their way
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to small-town police departments
across the United States.
across the United States.
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Although much tougher to observe,
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this same thing is happening
with surveillance equipment.
with surveillance equipment.
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NSA-style mass
surveillance is enabling
surveillance is enabling
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local police departments
to gather vast quantities
to gather vast quantities
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of sensitive information
about each and every one of us
about each and every one of us
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in a way that was
never previously possible.
never previously possible.
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00:51
Location information can
be very sensitive.
be very sensitive.
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If you drive your car around
the United States,
the United States,
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it can reveal if you go
to a therapist,
to a therapist,
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attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting,
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01:01
if you go to church
or if you don't go to church.
or if you don't go to church.
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01:04
And when that
information about you
information about you
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is combined with the same information
about everyone else,
about everyone else,
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the government can gain
a detailed portrait
a detailed portrait
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of how private citizens interact.
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01:15
This information used to be private.
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Thanks to modern technology,
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the government knows far too much
about what happens behind closed doors.
about what happens behind closed doors.
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01:23
And local police departments make
decisions about who they think you are
decisions about who they think you are
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based on this information.
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One of the key technologies
driving mass location tracking
driving mass location tracking
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is the innocuous-sounding
Automatic License Plate Reader.
Automatic License Plate Reader.
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If you haven't seen one,
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it's probably because you didn't
know what to look for --
know what to look for --
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they're everywhere.
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Mounted on roads or
on police cars,
on police cars,
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Automatic License Plate Readers
capture images of every passing car
capture images of every passing car
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and convert the license plate
into machine-readable text
into machine-readable text
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so that they can be checked
against hot lists
against hot lists
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of cars potentially wanted
for wrongdoing.
for wrongdoing.
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02:02
But more than that, increasingly,
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local police departments
are keeping records
are keeping records
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not just of people wanted for wrongdoing,
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02:10
but of every plate that
passes them by,
passes them by,
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02:13
resulting in the collection
of mass quantities of data
of mass quantities of data
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about where Americans have gone.
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02:19
Did you know this
was happening?
was happening?
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02:21
When Mike Katz-Lacabe asked
his local police department
his local police department
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for information about the plate
reader data they had on him,
reader data they had on him,
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this is what they got:
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in addition to the date,
time and location,
time and location,
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the police department had
photographs that captured
photographs that captured
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where he was going and
often who he was with.
often who he was with.
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The second photo from the top
is a picture of Mike and his two daughters
is a picture of Mike and his two daughters
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getting out of their car
in their own driveway.
in their own driveway.
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The government has
hundreds of photos like this
hundreds of photos like this
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about Mike going about his daily life.
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02:53
And if you drive a car
in the United States,
in the United States,
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I would bet money
that they have photographs
that they have photographs
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like this of you going
about your daily life.
about your daily life.
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03:00
Mike hasn't done anything wrong.
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03:02
Why is it okay that the government
is keeping all of this information?
is keeping all of this information?
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03:06
The reason it's happening is because,
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as the cost of storing
this data has plummeted,
this data has plummeted,
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the police departments
simply hang on to it,
simply hang on to it,
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just in case it could be useful someday.
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The issue is not just that
one police department
one police department
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is gathering this information in isolation
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or even that multiple police
departments are doing it.
departments are doing it.
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At the same time, the federal government
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is collecting all of these
individual pots of data,
individual pots of data,
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and pooling them together
into one vast database
into one vast database
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with hundreds of millions of hits,
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showing where Americans have traveled.
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This document from the
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration,
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration,
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which is one of the agencies
primarily interested in this,
primarily interested in this,
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is one of several that reveal
the existence of this database.
the existence of this database.
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03:50
Meanwhile, in New York City,
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the NYPD has driven police cars
equipped with license plate readers
equipped with license plate readers
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past mosques in order to
figure out who is attending.
figure out who is attending.
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04:00
The uses and abuses of this technology
aren't limited to the United States.
aren't limited to the United States.
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In the U.K., the police department
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put 80-year-old John Kat
on a plate reader watch list
on a plate reader watch list
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after he had attended dozens of
lawful political demonstrations
lawful political demonstrations
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where he liked to sit on a bench
and sketch the attendees.
and sketch the attendees.
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04:20
License plate readers aren't the
only mass location tracking technology
only mass location tracking technology
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available to law enforcement agents today.
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04:26
Through a technique known as
a cell tower dump,
a cell tower dump,
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law enforcement agents can
uncover who was using
uncover who was using
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one or more cell towers
at a particular time,
at a particular time,
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a technique which has been known to reveal
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the location of tens of thousands
and even hundreds of thousands of people.
and even hundreds of thousands of people.
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Also, using a device known as a StingRay,
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law enforcement agents
can send tracking signals
can send tracking signals
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inside people's houses
to identify the cell phones located there.
to identify the cell phones located there.
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04:51
And if they don't know
which house to target,
which house to target,
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they've been known
to drive this technology
to drive this technology
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around through whole neighborhoods.
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04:59
Just as the police in Ferguson possess
high-tech military weapons and equipment,
high-tech military weapons and equipment,
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05:04
so too do police departments across
the United States
the United States
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possess high-tech surveillance gear.
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05:09
Just because you don't see it,
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doesn't mean it's not there.
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The question is, what should
we do about this?
we do about this?
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I think this poses a serious
civil liberties threat.
civil liberties threat.
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05:19
History has shown that once the police
have massive quantities of data,
have massive quantities of data,
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tracking the movements of innocent people,
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it gets abused, maybe for blackmail,
maybe for political advantage,
maybe for political advantage,
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or maybe for simple voyeurism.
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Fortunately, there are steps we can take.
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Local police departments can
be governed by the city councils,
be governed by the city councils,
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which can pass laws requiring the police
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to dispose of the data
about innocent people
about innocent people
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while allowing the legitimate
uses of the technology to go forward.
uses of the technology to go forward.
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Thank you.
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05:49
(Applause).
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Catherine Crump - Attorney + privacy advocateCatherine Crump is an assistant clinical professor at Berkeley Law School who focuses on the laws around data and surveillance.
Why you should listen
Catherine Crump is a civil liberties lawyer whose work focuses on combating government surveillance and protecting the free speech rights of political protesters. She has filed cases challenging the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security. Crump is an assistant professor at Berkeley Law School; previously she was an attorney for ACLU for nine years.
In her writing for the ACLU, Crump warns against the dangers of national mass surveillance technology, which can all too easily end up as tools for local police forces. She writes, "Not only our country as a whole, but also the police, will be better off in the long run if we have an open debate about what today’s technology can do, versus what it should do."
Catherine Crump | Speaker | TED.com