A new era of technology has a direct correlation with a new era of privacy, or lack there of. Over the past decade, it's been very apparent that the invasion of privacy is becoming more and more of an issue to the common US citizen. This has led to countless laws being implemented to deter government agencies from alienating the people they're supposed to protect. During the TED talk "The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you" delivered by Catherine Crump, an assistant clinical professor at Berkeley, a new technology being utilized by the police is described. This technology surveys the streets all hours of the day and takes thousands of pictures of license plates and converts them to plain text. This is constantly used to run license plates of everyone on the road, not only people of suspicion. Also, there is constant surveillance regarding travelling, which makes an every day commute something that the federal government uses to their advantage. All of these things are being stored in specified databases, and can be accessed whenever the government feels necessary.
Throughout the presentation, Crump displays several screenshots of what these technologies are capable of, and what they do every day. Showing a list of several license plate numbers, all taken seconds apart from one another, is simply a testament to how incredibly invasive and powerful these tools are. The pictures shown are very grainy and low resolution, yet the software that is used can instantaneously read them and push them into the desired database. The way Crump utilized the visuals really did hold a lasting effect on me. Seeing the sheer power of these tools really is intimidating, and raises countless questions regarding privacy. She refrained from using any humor throughout this presentation for obvious reasons. She knows the seriousness of this subject matter, and the demographic she was reaching out to. The pacing did seem a little quick, but I assume she had a time frame she had to stay within. That being said, this subject could easily be talked about for a 60 minute presentation, but she did well maintaining a clear path and covering a few focal points regarding the topic. Overall, this presentation did have me engaged throughout simply because of the trending aspect of this nationwide concern.
