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{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be disposed  of.
--- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg]