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What Would You Do If The Feds Were Watching You?

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode The End Of Privacy.

About Hasan Elahi's TED Talk

When Hasan Elahi's name was mistakenly added to the U.S. government's watch list, he fought the assault on his privacy by turning his life inside-out for the world to see.

About Hasan Elahi

If the Feds come after you, you have options: panic, resist or — if you're interdisciplinary American artist Hasan Elahi — flood them with information. In 2002, Elahi was detained because he was suspected of hoarding explosives in a Florida locker. Even though lie detector tests cleared him, Elahi was subjected to six months of questioning.

He decided to turn the tables by constantly calling and emailing the FBI to notify them of his whereabouts. But the effort grew into an open-ended art project including posting minute-by-minute photos and his location through GPS. Elahi is an associate professor of art at the University of Maryland and he has exhibited at Venice Biennale, the Centre Pompidou, and the Hermitage.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

NPR/TED Staff