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