'Sentient City Survival Kit' lets citizens flirt with surveillance   
   By Daniel Nye Griffiths21 May 12   
      
   The city is watching you. CCTV cameras track your movements. ISPs record the   
   web sites you visit. Police and governments might read your tweets -- or your   
   emails. Your phone, your Oyster card and even your clothes might be disclosing   
   information to chip-reading identity thieves. When the smart city takes an   
   interest in your movements, how does the individual outsmart it?   
      
   This was the question Mark Shepard, former architect and fellow of New York's   
   Eyebeam Arts and Technology Centre, had in mind when he created the Sentient   
   City Survival Kit. The Kit, currently on show at the Dutch Electronic Arts   
   Festival in Rotterdam, imagines street-level solutions for a near future of   
   constant observation.   
      
   Shepard describes the kit as intended to "flirt with data algorithms" -- to   
   retain some mystery and regain some power over monitoring technology. As we   
   move through the city, we share information, often without even knowing it,   
   with numerous systems -- CCTV setups, travelcard readers, mobile phone masts   
   and many other digital spies.   
      
   Under(a)ware (pictured) is underwear designed to alert the wearer to RFID tag   
   skimming by discreetly vibrating whenever they are scanned. The Ad Hoc (dark)   
   Roast Network hides a wireless mesh network in the base of travel coffee mugs,   
   allowing commuters to create a temporary, train-sized network on their morning   
   journey, exchanging short messages with each other using a screen set into the   
   lid. Of course, this could be used for nefarious purposes -- but so could   
   speech, or writing. Not every communication needs to go through official   
   channels.   
      
   Sometimes, especially in a CCTV-choked city like London, it's not your   
   electronic signals that are being watched, but you. Cameras with night-vision   
   capabilities can identify you and follow your movements. That's when the   
   CCD-me-not Umbrella comes in handy. Its canopy is studded with infrared LED   
   lights, activated by a button in the handle. Invisible to human eyes, they   
   shine on night-vision CCD sensors like the sun, blinding the camera.   
      
   To round off the kit, Serendipitor is a playful way to navigate your city.   
   While regular mobile phone maps provide directions for the shortest route,   
   Serendipitor rewards meandering and adventuring. At every turn of its   
   turn-by-turn instructions, it gives you a mission, which may lead you off your   
   chosen route. You'll still get where you need to go, but your journey might   
   take unexpected turns.   
      
   Cities are getting smarter , and the Sentient City Survival Kit is a reminder   
   that they may not always have our best interests at heart.   
      
   The Sentient City Survival Kit is on display at the Dutch Electronic Arts   
   Festival exhibition, Rotterdam, until 3 June. Sentient City: Ubiquitous   
   Computing, Architecture, and the Future of Urban Space is published by MIT   
   Press.   
      
   http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/21/surviving-in-the-sentient-city   
      
   -The opinions expressed are not necessarily an advocation of any of the   
   aforementioned ideologies, concepts, or actions.  We still have the freedom of   
   speech, for now, and I enjoy using it in a satirical or ficticious manner to   
   amuse myself.-   
      
   “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary   
   act.”--  George Orwell   
   --- SBBSecho 2.14-OpenBSD   
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