Summary
Jennifer Stisa Granick, the Director of Civil Liberties at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, is an expert in computer crime and security, electronic surveillance, security vulnerability disclosure, encryption policy, and the Fourth Amendment. In the interview that follows, she discusses her forthcoming book, American Spies: Modern Surveillance, Why You Should Care, and What To Do About It (Cambridge University Press, 2017), which will be published on Friday, January 13.
You entered the profession in the 1990s working as a criminal defense attorney, and developed an expertise in Internet law and surveillance law—witnessing the evolution (and continued evolution) of law in the digital age. Can you give us an overview of how government surveillance of ordinary citizens is happening today? Most of us do not know that applications such as Skype are tools for government surveillance.
The most important thing is to understand that technology has totally changed what’s possible with surveillance. New technologies have profoundly transformed government capabilities to spy on people. More of what we do creates a centralized record, whether it is email or Skype calls or mapping apps on our phones. Governments can monitor the Internet, take advantage of data collection by private companies like social networks, or deploy their own advanced tools such as cameras and sophisticated software for license plate detection or facial recognition. These new technological capabilities raise serious questions about how to protect civil rights and political freedoms.
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