You’ve probably heard the warnings about digital privacy: read the terms of service, think before you share, be careful what you click. But AI ethicist Jen Golbeck says the problem runs a lot deeper than that. In this eye-opening talk, she reveals how corporations and governments built a system of “data colonialism” that tracks your movements, searches and habits — for profit and control. Learn how you can fight back against the surveillance state, starting with the devices in your own home. (Recorded at TED Democracy Philadelphia on June 13, 2026)
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#TED #TEDTalks #Technology #Surveillance
@3fives
July 16, 2026 at 11:02 am
First 😏
@welcome.421
July 16, 2026 at 11:56 am
TED
@3fives
July 16, 2026 at 11:03 am
Gotta love flock 😃
@Ninja9JKD
July 16, 2026 at 1:42 pm
fock flock lol
@fburton8
July 16, 2026 at 11:15 am
If you’ve got nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, surely? 🤔
@chibiusa
July 16, 2026 at 12:13 pm
Only the ignorant and naive say that. Thought policing is the obvious next step. Any intrusive thought you have can be used to throw you into a concentration camp. Any opinion you have that doesn’t strictly align with what the people in power believe will mark you as a “terrorist,” “communist,” or “mentally ill” — labels completely removed from their original definitions and redefined broadly in a way that includes you. Anything you’ve searched or sites you’ve visited in the past 20+ years can be used against you retroactively, if they want. Anything can be deemed a crime in a corrupt nation with bendable laws if those in power feel threatened by your existence. People keep using China as an example, but a more appropriate example would be North Korea.
What’s worse is that when it comes to surveillance cameras, there have been plenty of cases of mistaken identity where the two individuals look completely different. You could be arrested for someone else’s crime simply because the AI the police use isn’t sophisticated enough to distinguish between you and the suspect’s faces. If the best camera companies can’t make cameras that accurately detect black people’s faces with auto-focus face detection (not even facial recognition), what makes you think these government contractors can make better facial recognition technology when they don’t have the R&D history for it? They still haven’t been able to identify Savannah Guthrie’s mother’s kidnapper.
@dasiler4278
July 16, 2026 at 5:35 pm
This is beside the point. The point is this is MY information. It belongs to ME. No one should be able to access my information without my consent. And warrantless searches are ILLEGAL.
@elizabethb5210
July 16, 2026 at 11:32 am
Also, goto low tech companies and give them all of your support. Farmer’s markets. Local and small companies. Money is power.
@yodservant
July 16, 2026 at 11:56 am
Yep choose analog wherever possible….!!
@jorgeeporgee
July 16, 2026 at 11:37 am
we badly need TEThics 😅
@Z7d3nR4
July 16, 2026 at 11:46 am
The two-party, cult-of-personality politics, and big money control who Americans elect, and what those elected officials do.
Until such a time as Americans stop allowing those things to continue, our constitutional rights will always be violated.
The solution? I have no idea. Our choices of who to elect are limited by said two-party system. Third-party and independent candidates are generally not viable options. And the ones who are, seem to always get defeated by large budget campaigns and the charismatic two-party candidates.
Don’t vote? Don’t vote for the charismatic candidate? Doesn’t matter. Plenty of Americans will still be seduced by the system, and make your vote invalid, any way.
@AegisK
July 16, 2026 at 11:47 am
Who would have thought a friend of Epstein would be President over a period where consent is removed from Americans?
@WhiskeyMike48
July 17, 2026 at 12:01 am
Who would have thought that the president dumped Epstein many years ago and that Epstein was a major democrat donor who was better friends with one president Clinton. You got your presidents mixed up, do I helped you.
@yodservant
July 16, 2026 at 11:55 am
Important info….thank you 🦁🌵
@welcome.421
July 16, 2026 at 11:55 am
TED only you are my hope so take my hand and don’t leave me alone 😞
@HugoGerryts
July 16, 2026 at 12:15 pm
This is so negative. I just start with the license recognition system. How many criminals has this caught. You just ignore this fact. I agree with this comment: “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, surely”
@HugoGerryts
July 16, 2026 at 12:27 pm
I would like to actually expand on my comment. What if the store surveillance camera (the police viewed) catches your neighbor buying bleach, hammer. axe and some other stuff that can show he murdered you husband or child. Then suddenly you will love surveillance. You are going into this one head minded.
@dasiler4278
July 16, 2026 at 5:36 pm
I’m a granny with nothing to fear. But that is beside the point. The point is this is MY information. It belongs to ME. No one should be able to access my information without my consent. And warrantless searches are ILLEGAL.
@godofedrofalso4586
July 16, 2026 at 6:31 pm
there is always a trade-off between freedom and security. In a mass surveillance totalitarian society, in theory you could prevent all crime, but for this you would have to severely limit the freedom of the population. In a ‘state of nature’ society, people could do whatever they want, but there would not be any security. The difficulty is finding this goldilock zone, in which neither of them is severely limited
@nick2902
July 17, 2026 at 10:50 am
@HugoGerryts I’ll have to say that after researching this topic since the late 1990’s. I disagree with your analysis. That’s just way too simple. This topic is more complicated than that.
@robertjohnson2067
July 17, 2026 at 12:35 pm
I am not a criminal l, but I still value my privacy. More invasive total surveillance is never the answer.
@NiNiC83
July 16, 2026 at 1:44 pm
2:31 this has been my concern & I would like this to stop. How do we get this to stop?
@JasonTurner-Liberty
July 16, 2026 at 1:50 pm
Excellent analysis & presentation. It’s nice to know that someone is willing to speak up, and speak out against this Surveillance Tech.
@xyandzhandler
July 16, 2026 at 2:12 pm
Don’t shop at HomeDepot, they sell your face to flock. Don’t use anything American tech like MS Office and Windows, they have global identifier to track you and sell all your data and you-absolutely cannot turned it off!!!!
@kellyluvskolors2083
July 16, 2026 at 2:34 pm
Mass Surveillance Digital Control Grid prisons STEALING THE CONSTITUTION NO judge signed Warrants of a crime on LAW ABIDING CITIZENS
through public private partnership LOOPHOLES in EVERY state and Federal Law.
Your elected officials are NOT REPRESENTING YOU
because of ignorance (too old or can’t keep up with technology invasion changes), COMPLICITY (because they are financially benefitting in SOME way), or indifference (because they do NOT care to educate themselves, and they are not getting financial benefits from their indifference).
DATA CENTERS ARE EXPANSION of the Ai Digital CONTROL GRID Modern day Digital Prisons Slavery Beast system.
@mateuszwitka
July 16, 2026 at 4:39 pm
Brilliant video, very good job! ❤🎉
@doubleuenbeeeh
July 16, 2026 at 5:15 pm
Wild dress choice 😂
@stickman4087
July 16, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Definitely not used to seeing anti establishment stuff on TED. 🤓More please
@WhiskeyMike48
July 16, 2026 at 8:50 pm
You have no privacy out in public.
@CenturyWisdom-q5w
July 16, 2026 at 9:36 pm
This video is profoundly unsettling and makes me feel both exposed and deeply concerned for our future. Watching how our personal data is exploited by “data colonialism” is terrifying, yet it sparks a fierce desire to reclaim our privacy and fight back against this creeping surveillance.
@ivannovotny4552
July 17, 2026 at 12:40 am
Nothing new under the sun.
@平和-v1z
July 17, 2026 at 12:57 am
This needs to reach as many people as possible.
Also: *Avoid anything (products, services, etc.) that has any ties with Palantir.*
@bballer2548
July 18, 2026 at 1:16 pm
Bumped
@niccolom
July 17, 2026 at 1:06 am
If you want convenience, you’ve gotta give away some of you privacy.
It’s like going to a restaurant, but you wouldn’t tell the waiter what you want, all because your preference is part of your privacy.
@AsimKhan-d9f4s
July 17, 2026 at 1:12 am
I feel like I struggled most of my life with how to manifest. Sometimes it felt so out of reach that I decided to give that archetype quiz by Vera Hart a try, and it really did wonders. It matched my personal archetype exactly, and that’s how I finally figured out how to do it properly. I highly recommend anyone who struggled like me to try it as well! It only takes a couple of minutes anyway ❤️
@GreatBustard1
July 17, 2026 at 2:46 am
Luddites has much the same outlook I would say focus on how and who can collect this data and under what circumstance,for what purpose can it be used.
@kosub901
July 17, 2026 at 2:55 am
If you do not have anything to hide, you do not have to be concerned.
@kamoto5786
July 17, 2026 at 5:40 am
Of course you have
@NMiller_
July 17, 2026 at 11:11 am
Can you tell these brokers you are associated with a law enforcement agency, but since there are so many of them the broker doesn’t even bother to confirm your credentials? They can, and they have.
@PhokenKuul
July 17, 2026 at 4:55 pm
Should be illegal. Invasion of privacy, violates the search and seizure clause of the 4A.
@MyHeroCooper
July 17, 2026 at 6:18 pm
Heart
@walterlippmann4361
July 18, 2026 at 12:01 am
my privacy is long gone
@FollowTheJohn
July 18, 2026 at 12:12 am
Go to Lowes or Home Depot? They have FLOCK cameras! Shop local.
@DailySimpleEnglishTV
July 18, 2026 at 12:47 am
“If law enforcement needs a warrant to track you, they shouldn’t be able to just buy your data from a private broker for a few dollars.” This concept of data colonialism is a massive threat to civil liberties. A brilliant and urgent talk!