Creepy
Creepy app warns of an end to privacy:
Creepy is a software package for Linux or Windows – with a Mac OS X port in the works – that aims to gather public information on a targeted individual via social networking services in order to pinpoint their location. It’s remarkably efficient at its job, even in its current early form, and certainly lives up to its name when you see it in use for the first time.
Risk Reduction Strategies on Facebook
Fascinating article by danah boyd about unorthodox usage strategies and behaviors to minimize risk on Facebook. Deactivating your account upon every logout removes the agency function of your profile, allowing users to retain close control over their Facebook presence by making it impossible to leave traces or interact with a profile when the user isn’t logged in. You basically disappear from Facebook whenever you are not online. This way the social network turns into something more closely resembling an instant messaging platform.
The other strategy described in the article involves deleting previous interactions on Facebook after some time – regularly scrubbing one’s wall to remove any traces of past actions. The act of storing and archiving information on Facebook seems so ingrained in Facebook’s usage model that this strategy never occurred to me as a viable form of engaging with the service, despite having done something similar myself occasionally in the past.
My little piece of Privacy
My little piece of Privacy by Niklas Roy:
My workshop is located in an old storefront with a big window facing towards the street. In an attempt to create more privacy inside, I’ve decided to install a small but smart curtain in that window. The curtain is smaller than the window, but an additional surveillance camera and an old laptop provide it with intelligence: The computer sees the pedestrians and locates them. With a motor attached, it positions the curtain exactly where the pedestrians are.
Includes source code, plans and schematics to build your own.
Niklas Roy is also the creator of WIA <> WIA, one of my favorite exhibition pieces at last year’s Ars Electronica festival.
