[-empyre-] week three | locative scraping and counter-surveillance

[Dale Hudson]

Thanks, Robert.

Can you say more about the databases that some of the Crufts projects scrape? 

Are they all publicly available? I’m thinking of images from CCTV cameras and other private and public surveillance systems.

Have people been rallying for increased surveillance in the United States since the Paris (and Beirut and Bamoko) attacks?

Best,
Dale



On Nov 20, 2015, at 5:44, Robert Spahr <rob at robertspahr.com> wrote:

> ----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------
> On Wed, 18 Nov 2015 23:40:07 +0400
> Dale Hudson <dale.hudson at nyu.edu> wrote:
> 
>> One of our favorites, is Distress Cruft (my fellow americans), which
>> scrapes the security photographs for tourists to the Empire State
>> Building in New York — the very photos that tourist can purchase as
>> souvenirs. The program composites the image with a U.S. flag hung to
>> signal distress, thus visualizing the content state of distress in
>> post-9/11 NYC. It asks us to question the erosion of privacy in the
>> name of security.
> 
> 
> Thanks to both Dale and Patty for moderating this month. 
> 
> I want to build upon Dale's comments about my work called Distress
> Cruft (my fellow americans).  This work represents one of the major
> themes in my creative practice regarding the ways that the network and
> software in general can be used as tools of freedom and control. For
> example, the use of free software such as GNU+Linux allows one
> the freedom to understand how the software works, rather than being
> controlled by proprietary softwares hidden algorithms. Free software
> respects the users freedoms.
> 
> After the recent terrorist attacks in Paris last week, the discussion
> in the main stream media seems to be pointing to the _possible_ use of
> encryption, and if encryption is allowed to continue, it will prevent
> law enforcement from keeping us safe from future attacks.  An
> alternative argument would be that encryption keeps our data and
> privacy safe from those who would cause harm.
> 
> We are in distress, hence the signal of the upside down flag in my
> artwork, and with each terrorist attack we continue to lose control of
> our data, privacy, and the network. 
> 
> Distress Cruft (my fellow americans) was created in reaction to living
> in Manhattan after 9/11, when the number of CCTV cameras increased, and
> our bags were beginning to be searched when one traveled by subway.
> Unfortunately, these most recent attacks show the power grab for our
> privacy has only gotten worse, as we continue to give up more freedoms,
> for the illusion of more security. 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Robert Spahr
> http://www.robertspahr.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre at lists.artdesign.unsw.edu.au
> http://empyre.library.cornell.edu