DAG> 'Sentient City Survival Kit' lets citizens flirt with   
    DAG> surveillance By Daniel Nye Griffiths21 May 12   
      
    DAG> The city is watching you. CCTV cameras track your   
    DAG> movements. ISPs record the web sites you visit. Police and   
    DAG> governments might read your tweets -- or your emails. Your   
      
    And the anonomizer sites won't help, because you still have to   
    go through your ISP to get to the anonomyizer site.   
      
    DAG> phone, your Oyster card and even your clothes might be   
    DAG> disclosing information to chip-reading identity thieves.   
    DAG> When the smart city takes an interest in your movements,   
    DAG> how does the individual outsmart it?   
      
    Make your own clothes. Don't carry IDs with chips. Which may   
    mean don't carry ID.   
      
    DAG> This was the question Mark Shepard, former architect and   
    DAG> fellow of New York's Eyebeam Arts and Technology Centre,   
    DAG> had in mind when he created the Sentient City Survival   
    DAG> Kit.   
      
    ...   
      
    DAG> mobile phone masts and many other digital spies.   
      
    Oh, and turn off your phone when you aren't using it. Only have   
    a voice type phone that actually turns off, or use only a burn   
    phone, or pull out the battery when you are not using it.   
      
    DAG> Under(a)ware (pictured) is underwear designed to alert the   
    DAG> wearer to RFID tag skimming by discreetly vibrating   
    DAG> whenever they are scanned. The Ad Hoc (dark) Roast Network   
      
    Why is he smiling?   
      
    Cause he's getting vibrated by an RFID scanner.   
      
    Future porno.   
      
    DAG> hides a wireless mesh network in the base of travel coffee   
    DAG> mugs, allowing commuters to create a temporary,   
    DAG> train-sized network on their morning journey, exchanging   
    DAG> short messages with each other using a screen set into the   
    DAG> lid.   
      
    I kinda like that. Though just talking might not be bad too.   
      
    ...   
      
    DAG> Sometimes, especially in a CCTV-choked city like London,   
    DAG> it's not your electronic signals that are being watched,   
    DAG> but you. Cameras with night-vision capabilities can   
    DAG> identify you and follow your movements. That's when the   
    DAG> CCD-me-not Umbrella comes in handy. Its canopy is studded   
    DAG> with infrared LED lights, activated by a button in the   
    DAG> handle. Invisible to human eyes, they shine on   
    DAG> night-vision CCD sensors like the sun, blinding the camera.   
      
    Not bad... but...   
      
    The very fact of the infra-red LED blinding will draw attention,   
    so you will be watched. The up-side is, if you work with a   
    group, the decoys turn on IR umbrellas, and the actual activists   
    escape notice.   
      
    That's something I have learned from listening to blaek people.   
    They tell of going into a store with some white friends. They   
    split up and the store security follows them while the white   
    friends steal them blind. Which then means the black people   
    realize they have been used and they find new white friends, but   
    that's the price of being friendly with white people.   
      
    Same thing with IR umbrellas, except that you self select   
    yourself to be a decoy. Unless someone gives, or lends, you an   
    umbrella on a damp night.   
      
    DAG> To round off the kit, Serendipitor is a playful way to   
    DAG> navigate your city. While regular mobile phone maps   
    DAG> provide directions for the shortest route, Serendipitor   
    DAG> rewards meandering and adventuring. At every turn of its   
    DAG> turn-by-turn instructions, it gives you a mission, which   
    DAG> may lead you off your chosen route. You'll still get where   
    DAG> you need to go, but your journey might take unexpected   
    DAG> turns.   
      
    OK, sounds like a new game. Could catch on.   
      
    DAG> Cities are getting smarter , and the Sentient City   
    DAG> Survival Kit is a reminder that they may not always have   
    DAG> our best interests at heart.   
      
    They may today, tomorrow someone else inherits the power.   
    Unfortunately, good intentions are not hereditary.   
      
    ...   
      
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
   ... If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be disposed  of.   
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