ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jennifer Granick - Surveillance and cybersecurity counsel
Jennifer Granick fights for civil liberties in the age of surveillance and powerful digital technology.

Why you should listen

As surveillance and cybersecurity counsel with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, Jennifer Granick litigates, speaks and writes about privacy, security, technology and constitutional rights. Granick is the author of the book American Spies: Modern Surveillance, Why You Should Care, and What To Do About It, published by Cambridge Press and winner of the 2016 Palmer Civil Liberties Prize. 

Granick spent much of her career helping create Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. From 2001 to 2007, she was Executive Director of CIS and founded the Cyberlaw Clinic, where she supervised students in working on some of the most important cyberlaw cases that took place during her tenure. She was the primary crafter of a 2006 exception to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which allows mobile telephone owners to legally circumvent the firmware locking their device to a single carrier. From 2012 to 2017, Granick was Civil Liberties Director specializing in and teaching surveillance law, cybersecurity, encryption policy and the Fourth Amendment. In that capacity, she has published widely on US government surveillance practices and helped educate judges and congressional staffers on these issues. Granick also served as the Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 2007-2010. Earlier in her career, Granick spent almost a decade practicing criminal defense law in California. 

Granick’s work is well-known in privacy and security circles. Her keynote, "Lifecycle of a Revolution" for the 2015 Black Hat USA security conference electrified and depressed the audience in equal measure. In March of 2016, she received Duo Security’s Women in Security Academic Award for her expertise in the field as well as her direction and guidance for young women in the security industry. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) has called Granick an "NBA all-star of surveillance law."

More profile about the speaker
Jennifer Granick | Speaker | TED.com
TEDxStanford

Jennifer Granick: How the US government spies on people who protest -- including you

Filmed:
1,269,864 views

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.
- Surveillance and cybersecurity counsel
Jennifer Granick fights for civil liberties in the age of surveillance and powerful digital technology. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
We are all activists now.
0
833
2127
00:15
(Applause)
1
3600
1296
00:16
Thank you.
2
4920
1200
00:18
I'll just stop here.
3
6680
1336
00:20
(Laughter)
4
8039
1177
00:21
From the families who are fighting
to maintain funding for public schools,
5
9240
4680
00:26
the tens of thousands of people
who joined Occupy Wall Street
6
14640
4376
00:31
or marched with Black Lives Matter
7
19040
2176
00:33
to protest police brutality
against African Americans,
8
21240
3560
00:37
families that join rallies,
9
25760
2496
00:40
pro-life and pro-choice,
10
28280
2000
00:43
those of us who are afraid
11
31600
1736
00:45
that our friends and neighbors
are going to be deported
12
33360
3376
00:48
or that they'll be added to lists
13
36760
1976
00:50
because they are Muslim,
14
38760
1320
00:53
people who advocate for gun rights
and for gun control
15
41480
4240
00:58
and the millions of people
who joined the women's marches
16
46640
3496
01:02
all across the country this last January.
17
50160
2776
01:04
(Applause)
18
52960
2656
01:07
We are all activists now,
19
55640
2096
01:09
and that means that we all have something
to worry about from surveillance.
20
57760
4480
01:15
Surveillance means
government collection and use
21
63320
2696
01:18
of private and sensitive data about us.
22
66040
3216
01:21
And surveillance is essential
23
69280
1936
01:23
to law enforcement
and to national security.
24
71240
3096
01:26
But the history of surveillance
25
74360
1976
01:28
is one that includes surveillance abuses
26
76360
3496
01:31
where this sensitive information
has been used against people
27
79880
3456
01:35
because of their race,
28
83360
1536
01:36
their national origin,
29
84920
1776
01:38
their sexual orientation,
30
86720
2056
01:40
and in particular,
because of their activism,
31
88800
3176
01:44
their political beliefs.
32
92000
1600
01:46
About 53 years ago,
33
94760
2616
01:49
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
gave his "I have a dream" speech
34
97400
3536
01:52
on the Mall in Washington.
35
100960
1280
01:55
And today the ideas behind this speech
of racial equality and tolerance
36
103040
4696
01:59
are so noncontroversial
37
107760
1936
02:01
that my daughters
study the speech in third grade.
38
109720
2680
02:05
But at the time,
39
113160
1336
02:06
Dr. King was extremely controversial.
40
114520
2400
02:09
The legendary and notorious
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover believed,
41
117520
5496
02:15
or wanted to believe,
42
123040
1816
02:16
that the Civil Rights Movement
was a Soviet communist plot
43
124880
3575
02:20
intended to destabilize
the American government.
44
128479
3161
02:24
And so Hoover had his agents
put bugs in Dr. King's hotel rooms,
45
132080
6256
02:30
and those bugs picked up conversations
between civil rights leaders
46
138360
5536
02:35
talking about the strategies and tactics
of the Civil Rights Movement.
47
143920
4440
02:41
They also picked up sounds of Dr. King
48
149080
2216
02:43
having sex with women
who were not his wife,
49
151320
2856
02:46
and J. Edgar Hoover
saw the opportunity here
50
154200
2736
02:48
to discredit and undermine
the Civil Rights Movement.
51
156960
3640
02:53
The FBI sent a package of these recordings
52
161400
3616
02:57
along with a handwritten note to Dr. King,
53
165040
3080
03:00
and a draft of this note
was found in FBI archives years later,
54
168880
5680
03:07
and the letter said,
55
175280
1736
03:09
"You are no clergyman and you know it.
56
177040
2776
03:11
King, like all frauds,
your end is approaching."
57
179840
3560
03:16
The letter even seemed
to encourage Dr. King to commit suicide,
58
184040
4840
03:21
saying, "King, there is
only one thing left for you to do.
59
189560
3776
03:25
You know what it is.
60
193360
1576
03:26
You better take it before
your filthy, abnormal, fraudulent self
61
194960
4336
03:31
is bared to the nation."
62
199320
1856
03:33
But the important thing is,
63
201200
1416
03:34
Dr. King was not abnormal.
64
202640
1680
03:36
Every one of us has something
that we want to hide from somebody.
65
204880
4160
03:42
And even more important,
66
210000
1816
03:43
J. Edgar Hoover wasn't abnormal either.
67
211840
2480
03:47
The history of surveillance abuses
68
215080
1936
03:49
is not the history
of one bad, megalomaniacal man.
69
217040
3400
03:53
Throughout his decades at the FBI,
70
221080
3016
03:56
J. Edgar Hoover enjoyed the support
of the presidents that he served,
71
224120
3736
03:59
Democratic and Republican alike.
72
227880
2280
04:02
After all, it was John F. Kennedy
and his brother Robert Kennedy
73
230680
3336
04:06
who knew about and approved
the surveillance of Dr. King.
74
234040
2960
04:10
Hoover ran a program
called COINTELPRO for 15 years
75
238640
4416
04:15
which was designed
to spy on and undermine civic groups
76
243080
4776
04:19
that were devoted
to things like civil rights,
77
247880
2736
04:22
the Women's Rights Movement,
78
250640
1736
04:24
and peace groups and anti-war movements.
79
252400
2736
04:27
And the surveillance didn't stop there.
80
255160
2359
04:29
Lyndon Baines Johnson,
81
257959
1697
04:31
during the election campaign,
82
259680
2016
04:33
had the campaign airplane
of his rival Barry Goldwater bugged
83
261720
5976
04:39
as part of his effort
to win that election.
84
267720
2800
04:43
And then, of course, there was Watergate.
85
271200
2680
04:47
Burglars were caught
86
275520
1456
04:49
breaking into the Democratic
National Committee headquarters
87
277000
2856
04:51
at the Watergate Hotel,
88
279880
1536
04:53
the Nixon administration was involved
in covering up the burglary,
89
281440
4176
04:57
and eventually Nixon
had to step down as president.
90
285640
3480
05:02
COINTELPRO and Watergate
were a wake-up call for Americans.
91
290040
4736
05:06
Surveillance was out of control
92
294800
1856
05:08
and it was being used
to squelch political challengers.
93
296680
3840
05:13
And so Americans rose to the occasion
94
301240
2536
05:15
and what we did was
we reformed surveillance law.
95
303800
3440
05:20
And the primary tool we used
to reform surveillance law
96
308160
4376
05:24
was to require a search warrant
97
312560
2696
05:27
for the government to be able to get
access to our phone calls and our letters.
98
315280
5960
05:33
Now, the reason why
a search warrant is important
99
321720
2856
05:36
is because it interposes a judge
100
324600
2336
05:38
in the relationship
between investigators and the citizens,
101
326960
3616
05:42
and that judge's job is to make sure
102
330600
2976
05:45
that there's good cause
for the surveillance,
103
333600
2616
05:48
that the surveillance
is targeted at the right people,
104
336240
3416
05:51
and that the information that's collected
105
339680
2496
05:54
is going to be used
for legitimate government purposes
106
342200
3616
05:57
and not for discriminatory ones.
107
345840
2936
06:00
This was our system,
108
348800
1216
06:02
and what this means is
109
350040
1256
06:03
that President Obama
did not wiretap Trump Tower.
110
351320
3816
06:07
The system is set up to prevent
something like that from happening
111
355160
4816
06:12
without a judge being involved.
112
360000
1840
06:14
But what happens when we're not talking
about phone calls or letters anymore?
113
362480
4600
06:20
Today, we have technology
114
368520
2696
06:23
that makes it cheap and easy
for the government to collect information
115
371240
4176
06:27
on ordinary everyday people.
116
375440
2680
06:30
Your phone call records
117
378560
2696
06:33
can reveal whether you have an addiction,
118
381280
3616
06:36
what your religion is,
119
384920
1456
06:38
what charities you donate to,
120
386400
2656
06:41
what political candidate you support.
121
389080
2480
06:44
And yet, our government
collected, dragnet-style,
122
392040
4096
06:48
Americans' calling records for years.
123
396160
2960
06:52
In 2012, the Republican
National Convention
124
400320
4136
06:56
highlighted a new technology
it was planning to use,
125
404480
3376
06:59
facial recognition,
126
407880
1496
07:01
to identify people
who were going to be in the crowd
127
409400
2976
07:04
who might be activists or troublemakers
128
412400
2456
07:06
and to stop them ahead of time.
129
414880
1560
07:09
Today, over 50 percent of American adults
130
417200
3696
07:12
have their faceprint
in a government database.
131
420920
2400
07:15
The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
132
423920
3296
07:19
concocted a plan
133
427240
1536
07:20
to find out what Americans
were going to gun shows
134
428800
3536
07:24
by using license plate detectors
135
432360
2496
07:26
to scan the license plates of cars
136
434880
2096
07:29
that were in the parking lots
of these events.
137
437000
2240
07:31
Today, we believe that over 70 percent
of police departments
138
439880
4416
07:36
have automatic license plate
detection technology
139
444320
3096
07:39
that they're using to track people's cars
as they drive through town.
140
447440
3440
07:43
And all of this information,
141
451960
2616
07:46
the license plates, the faceprints,
142
454600
2936
07:49
the phone records,
143
457560
1576
07:51
your address books, your buddy lists,
144
459160
2816
07:54
the photos that you upload
to Dropbox or Google Photos,
145
462000
4416
07:58
and sometimes even
your chats and your emails
146
466440
3976
08:02
are not protected
by a warrant requirement.
147
470440
2560
08:05
So what that means is we have
all of this information on regular people
148
473760
5576
08:11
that's newly available
at very low expense.
149
479360
3200
08:15
It is the golden age for surveillance.
150
483040
2080
08:18
Now, every parent is going
to understand what this means.
151
486480
5296
08:23
When you have a little baby
152
491800
2136
08:25
and the baby's young,
153
493960
1936
08:27
that child is not able
to climb out of its crib.
154
495920
3256
08:31
But eventually your little girl gets older
155
499200
2896
08:34
and she's able to climb out of the crib,
156
502120
2936
08:37
but you tell her,
"Don't climb out of the crib. OK?"
157
505080
3776
08:40
And every parent knows
what's going to happen.
158
508880
2176
08:43
Some of those babies
are going to climb out of the crib.
159
511080
3000
08:46
Right? That's the difference
between ability and permission.
160
514559
3657
08:50
Well, the same thing is true
with the government today.
161
518240
2616
08:52
It used to be that our government
didn't have the ability
162
520880
2775
08:55
to do widespread, massive surveillance
on hundreds of millions of Americans
163
523679
3577
08:59
and then abuse that information.
164
527280
1560
09:01
But now our government has grown up,
165
529520
1856
09:03
and we have that technology today.
166
531400
1960
09:06
The government has the ability,
167
534200
2576
09:08
and that means the law
is more important than ever before.
168
536800
3576
09:12
The law is supposed to say
169
540400
1736
09:14
when the government
has permission to do it,
170
542160
4016
09:18
and it's supposed to ensure
that there's some kind of ramification.
171
546200
4136
09:22
We notice when those laws are broken
172
550360
2496
09:24
and there's some of kind of
ramification or punishment.
173
552880
2696
09:27
The law is more important than ever
because we are now living in a world
174
555600
3416
09:31
where only rules
are stopping the government
175
559040
2096
09:33
from abusing this information.
176
561160
1440
09:35
But the law has fallen down on the job.
177
563120
2320
09:37
Particularly since September 11
the law has fallen down on the job,
178
565840
3936
09:41
and we do not have
the rules in place that we need.
179
569800
2680
09:45
And we are seeing
the ramifications of that.
180
573400
2440
09:48
So fusion centers
are these joint task forces
181
576200
3256
09:51
between local, state
and federal government
182
579480
2296
09:53
that are meant to ferret out
domestic terrorism.
183
581800
3216
09:57
And what we've seen
is fusion center reports
184
585040
2496
09:59
that say that you might be dangerous
185
587560
3776
10:03
if you voted for a third-party candidate,
186
591360
2936
10:06
or you own a "Don't Tread On Me" flag,
187
594320
3176
10:09
or you watched movies that are anti-tax.
188
597520
3760
10:13
These same fusion centers have spied
on Muslim community groups' reading lists
189
601880
4776
10:18
and on Quakers who are resisting
military recruiting in high schools.
190
606680
4320
10:24
The Internal Revenue Service
has disproportionately audited
191
612680
4176
10:28
groups that have "Tea Party"
or "Patriot" in their name.
192
616880
3656
10:32
And now customs and border patrol
193
620560
2576
10:35
is stopping people
as they come into the country
194
623160
2776
10:37
and demanding our social
networking passwords
195
625960
3176
10:41
which will allow them
to see who our friends are,
196
629160
2576
10:43
what we say
197
631760
1216
10:45
and even to impersonate us online.
198
633000
2720
10:48
Now, civil libertarians like myself
199
636520
2656
10:51
have been trying to draw
people's attention to these things
200
639200
4136
10:55
and fighting against them for years.
201
643360
2576
10:57
This was a huge problem
during the Obama administration,
202
645960
4200
11:02
but now the problem is worse.
203
650960
2280
11:06
When the New York Police Department
204
654520
2456
11:09
spies on Muslims
205
657000
1696
11:10
or a police department
uses license plate detectors
206
658720
3856
11:14
to find out where
the officers' spouses are
207
662600
3896
11:18
or those sorts of things,
208
666520
1256
11:19
that is extremely dangerous.
209
667800
1440
11:21
But when a president repurposes the power
210
669920
3056
11:25
of federal surveillance
and the federal government
211
673000
2496
11:27
to retaliate against political opposition,
212
675520
3056
11:30
that is a tyranny.
213
678600
1200
11:32
And so we are all activists now,
214
680480
3320
11:36
and we all have something
to fear from surveillance.
215
684640
3320
11:40
But just like in the time
of Dr. Martin Luther King,
216
688760
3776
11:44
we can reform the way things are.
217
692560
2080
11:47
First of all, use encryption.
218
695920
2400
11:51
Encryption protects your information
219
699120
2896
11:54
from being inexpensively
and opportunistically collected.
220
702040
4816
11:58
It rolls back the golden age
for surveillance.
221
706880
3120
12:04
Second, support surveillance reform.
222
712080
2760
12:07
Did you know that if you have a friend
223
715720
2176
12:09
who works for the French
or German governments
224
717920
3096
12:13
or for an international human rights group
225
721040
3136
12:16
or for a global oil company
226
724200
3376
12:19
that your friend is a valid
foreign intelligence target?
227
727600
3960
12:23
And what that means is that when
you have conversations with that friend,
228
731920
4136
12:28
the US government
may be collecting that information.
229
736080
3160
12:32
And when that information is collected,
230
740320
3256
12:35
even though it's
conversations with Americans,
231
743600
2176
12:37
it can then be funneled to the FBI
232
745800
3096
12:40
where the FBI is allowed
to search through it
233
748920
2456
12:43
without getting a warrant,
234
751400
1376
12:44
without probable cause,
235
752800
1656
12:46
looking for information about Americans
236
754480
2216
12:48
and whatever crimes we may have committed
237
756720
3416
12:52
with no need to document
any kind of suspicion.
238
760160
3040
12:55
The law that allows some of this to happen
239
763920
2976
12:58
is called Section 702
of the FISA Amendments Act,
240
766920
4096
13:03
and we have a great opportunity this year,
241
771040
2536
13:05
because Section 702
is going to expire at the end of 2017,
242
773600
4736
13:10
which means that
Congress's inertia is on our side
243
778360
4616
13:15
if we want reform.
244
783000
1576
13:16
And we can pressure our representatives
245
784600
3696
13:20
to actually implement
important reforms to this law
246
788320
3496
13:23
and protect our data
from this redirection and misuse.
247
791840
3360
13:28
And finally, one of the reasons
why things have gotten so out of control
248
796560
5016
13:33
is because so much
of what happens with surveillance --
249
801600
2896
13:36
the technology, the enabling rules
and the policies
250
804520
4536
13:41
that are either there
or not there to protect us --
251
809080
3576
13:44
are secret or classified.
252
812680
2416
13:47
We need transparency,
and we need to know as Americans
253
815120
4216
13:51
what the government is doing in our name
254
819360
2536
13:53
so that the surveillance that takes place
and the use of that information
255
821920
4576
13:58
is democratically accounted for.
256
826520
2480
14:02
We are all activists now,
257
830400
2096
14:04
which means that we all have something
to worry about from surveillance.
258
832520
3640
14:08
But like in the time
of Dr. Martin Luther King,
259
836720
3416
14:12
there is stuff that we can do about it.
260
840160
2296
14:14
So please join me, and let's get to work.
261
842480
3920
14:19
Thank you.
262
847000
1216
14:20
(Applause)
263
848240
3760

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jennifer Granick - Surveillance and cybersecurity counsel
Jennifer Granick fights for civil liberties in the age of surveillance and powerful digital technology.

Why you should listen

As surveillance and cybersecurity counsel with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, Jennifer Granick litigates, speaks and writes about privacy, security, technology and constitutional rights. Granick is the author of the book American Spies: Modern Surveillance, Why You Should Care, and What To Do About It, published by Cambridge Press and winner of the 2016 Palmer Civil Liberties Prize. 

Granick spent much of her career helping create Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. From 2001 to 2007, she was Executive Director of CIS and founded the Cyberlaw Clinic, where she supervised students in working on some of the most important cyberlaw cases that took place during her tenure. She was the primary crafter of a 2006 exception to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which allows mobile telephone owners to legally circumvent the firmware locking their device to a single carrier. From 2012 to 2017, Granick was Civil Liberties Director specializing in and teaching surveillance law, cybersecurity, encryption policy and the Fourth Amendment. In that capacity, she has published widely on US government surveillance practices and helped educate judges and congressional staffers on these issues. Granick also served as the Civil Liberties Director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 2007-2010. Earlier in her career, Granick spent almost a decade practicing criminal defense law in California. 

Granick’s work is well-known in privacy and security circles. Her keynote, "Lifecycle of a Revolution" for the 2015 Black Hat USA security conference electrified and depressed the audience in equal measure. In March of 2016, she received Duo Security’s Women in Security Academic Award for her expertise in the field as well as her direction and guidance for young women in the security industry. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore) has called Granick an "NBA all-star of surveillance law."

More profile about the speaker
Jennifer Granick | Speaker | TED.com