Catherine Crump: The small and surprisingly dangerous detail the police track about you

譯者: Hanling Chen 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

The shocking police crackdown on protestors in Ferguson, Missouri,

在密蘇里州佛格森 警方鎮壓抗議者令人震驚，

in the wake of the police shooting of Michael Brown,

這些人為了警方開槍 射擊邁克爾·布朗的事件抗議，

underscored the extent to which advanced military weapons and equipment,

從事件中可看出 極為先進的軍事裝備

designed for the battlefield,

為戰場而設計的武器，

are making their way

正在慢慢進入

to small-town police departments across the United States.

全美國縣城的警察局。

Although much tougher to observe,

雖然很難察覺到，

this same thing is happening with surveillance equipment.

但是同樣的事情也發生在監控設備上，

NSA-style mass surveillance is enabling

國土安全局級別的大規模監控

local police departments to gather vast quantities

使得地方警察部門獲取大量

of sensitive information about each and every one of us

關於我們每一個人的敏感訊息

in a way that was never previously possible.

以一種前所未有的方式。

Location information can be very sensitive.

所在位置的訊息會非常敏感。

If you drive your car around the United States,

如果你在美國開著車，

it can reveal if you go to a therapist,

它可以揭露你去看了治療師，

attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting,

還是參加匿名戒酒會議，

if you go to church or if you don't go to church.

你是否會上教堂。

And when that information about you

如果這些關於你的訊息

is combined with the same information about everyone else,

和那些其他人的訊息整合到一起，

the government can gain a detailed portrait

政府就得到了一份詳細的

of how private citizens interact.

關於每個普通公民如何相互交流的影像。

This information used to be private.

這些訊息曾經是隱私。

Thanks to modern technology,

由於現代科技，

the government knows far too much about what happens behind closed doors.

政府知道了太多關著的門背後發生的事情。

And local police departments make decisions about who they think you are

而且當地警察局也根據這些訊息

based on this information.

來判斷你是怎樣的人。

One of the key technologies driving mass location tracking

推動大量定位追蹤的一項關鍵技術是

is the innocuous-sounding Automatic License Plate Reader.

冠冕堂皇的車牌自動閱讀器。

If you haven't seen one,

如果你從未見過它，

it's probably because you didn't know what to look for --

很有可能是你不知道往哪裡看——

they're everywhere.

它們無處不在。

Mounted on roads or on police cars,

裝在道路上或者警車上，

Automatic License Plate Readers capture images of every passing car

車牌自動閱讀器抓拍過往的每一輛車

and convert the license plate into machine-readable text

然後把車牌轉化成機器辨識的文字

so that they can be checked against hot lists

這樣就可以

和違規名單上的車牌對照。

of cars potentially wanted for wrongdoing.

But more than that, increasingly,

而且不止這些，大量增長的是，

local police departments are keeping records

當地警察局保留了

not just of people wanted for wrongdoing,

不光是違法者的記錄，

but of every plate that passes them by,

而且是每一輛經過的車的記錄，

resulting in the collection of mass quantities of data

導致得到大量關於

about where Americans have gone.

美國人去了哪裡的數據。

Did you know this was happening?

你們知道有這種事嗎？

When Mike Katz-Lacabe asked his local police department

當邁克·卡茨拉卡布問他當地的警察局

for information about the plate reader data they had on him,

要車牌閱讀器關於他的記錄時，

this is what they got:

這是警察得到的：

in addition to the date, time and location,

除了日期、時間、地點，

the police department had photographs that captured

警察局還有抓拍的照片

where he was going and often who he was with.

關於他去了哪裡，和誰在一起。

The second photo from the top is a picture of Mike and his two daughters

第二張照片是邁克和他的兩個女兒

getting out of their car in their own driveway.

在他們家門口從車中下來時。

The government has hundreds of photos like this

政府部門有數百張這樣的照片

about Mike going about his daily life.

關於邁克和他的日常生活。

And if you drive a car in the United States,

如果你在美國開著車，

I would bet money that they have photographs

我敢用金錢打賭他們也有類似照片

like this of you going about your daily life.

關於你的日常生活。

Mike hasn't done anything wrong.

邁克並沒有做任何壞事。

Why is it okay that the government is keeping all of this information?

為什麼政府可以保留這些訊息？

The reason it's happening is because,

原因是，

as the cost of storing this data has plummeted,

隨著儲蓄數據的成本下降

the police departments simply hang on to it,

警察局就簡單地保留下來，

just in case it could be useful someday.

以防有一天成為有用訊息。

The issue is not just that one police department

這件事並不是一個警察局

is gathering this information in isolation

收集訊息，

or even that multiple police departments are doing it.

或者幾個警察局收集訊息。

At the same time, the federal government

同時，聯邦政府

is collecting all of these individual pots of data,

正在收集所有個人的點滴訊息，

and pooling them together into one vast database

並且把它們同其他成百上千萬

with hundreds of millions of hits,

訊息一起放在一個大數據庫裡，

showing where Americans have traveled.

顯示出美國人都去了哪些地方。

This document from the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration,

聯邦緝毒局，

which is one of the agencies primarily interested in this,

對此極有興趣的機構之一，

is one of several that reveal the existence of this database.

裡頭的這份文件透漏了數據庫的存在。

Meanwhile, in New York City,

同時，在紐約，

the NYPD has driven police cars equipped with license plate readers

紐約警察局開著裝有車牌閱讀器的警車

past mosques in order to figure out who is attending.

經過清真寺以搞清楚誰參加了。

The uses and abuses of this technology aren't limited to the United States.

這項技術的使用和濫用不僅限於美國。

In the U.K., the police department

在英國，警察局

put 80-year-old John Kat on a plate reader watch list

把 80 歲的約翰·卡特放進了車牌讀取名單，

after he had attended dozens of lawful political demonstrations

因為他先前參加 幾十個合法的政治示威活動時，

where he liked to sit on a bench and sketch the attendees.

他喜歡坐在凳子上為參與者畫像。

License plate readers aren't the only mass location tracking technology

車牌讀取器不是目前提供給執法機構的

available to law enforcement agents today.

唯一大規模追蹤技術。

Through a technique known as a cell tower dump,

通過一個名為小區塔轉儲的技術，

law enforcement agents can uncover who was using

執法人員可以破察誰在某個時刻

one or more cell towers at a particular time,

正在使用一個或者多個電話通信塔，

a technique which has been known to reveal

這是一項被大眾熟知的技術

the location of tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people.

被用來定位成千上百的人。

Also, using a device known as a StingRay,

同樣，使用一種名為黃貂魚的設備，

law enforcement agents can send tracking signals

執法人員可以追蹤

inside people's houses to identify the cell phones located there.

在人們家裡的信號 來確認手機就在那裡。

And if they don't know which house to target,

而且如果他們不知道目標是哪棟房子，

they've been known to drive this technology

他們會在整個街區

around through whole neighborhoods.

使用這項技術。

Just as the police in Ferguson possess high-tech military weapons and equipment,

正如弗格森警方 擁有高科技軍用武器裝備，

so too do police departments across the United States

全美國的警察局同樣也有

possess high-tech surveillance gear.

高科技的監控設備。

Just because you don't see it,

你沒有看見它

doesn't mean it's not there.

並不意味著它不存在。

The question is, what should we do about this?

問題是，我們應該對此做些什麼？

I think this poses a serious civil liberties threat.

我認為這嚴重的威脅了公民自由。

History has shown that once the police have massive quantities of data,

歷史已經證明一旦警察有了大量的數據，

tracking the movements of innocent people,

追蹤無辜大眾的行動，

it gets abused, maybe for blackmail, maybe for political advantage,

它就會被濫用， 或者用於勒索、政治目的，

or maybe for simple voyeurism.

或者簡單的偷窺。

Fortunately, there are steps we can take.

幸運的是，我們可以採取一些措施。

Local police departments can be governed by the city councils,

當地警察部門可以被市議會管轄，

which can pass laws requiring the police

議會有權利通過法律要求警察

to dispose of the data about innocent people

丟棄無辜人的數據，

while allowing the legitimate uses of the technology to go forward.

同時允許合法的繼續使用這些科技。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause).

（鼓掌）