Edward Snowden’s revelations about massive data collection and surveillance have been an eye opener for the world. Franz Kafka’s and George Orwell’s vision of a surveillance state has been globalised. One feature of this debate lies in the idea of a global right to privacy as surveillance as a whole cannot be tackled. While there are international covenants and constitutions protecting the right to privacy, opinions on how such a right is enforced differ as mass surveillance still takes place regardless of passed legislations.
We all know that we are being surveilled all the time. In order to understand surveillance one needs to put themselves in the place of the surveiller to see how it works. The type of surveillance that my project is based on is Digital Surveillance- Surveillance that is done through internet. We give in to the unfair bargain of government and corporations who promise us security and convenience in return of our personal data. We are not only surveilled by these two, but also by voyeurs who just like to look at people's data and hold it against them. Surveillance is huge issue that we do not talk enough about- it is as important as any other prevalent issue and it is extremely important in this day and age to know about how it takes place. My project focuses educating people and making them more aware about this. The following deliverables can be used at workshops held to make people more aware of this.
The three deliverables that are included in my project is an interactive infographic that makes the user understand how digital surveillance takes place, what data of ours is tracked, how we can protect ourselves from it and how to get out of the surveillance radar.
Infographic (interactive- made on Justinmind Prototyper)
Below video shows a quick walk through of the infographic
Database (interactive-made on Justinmind Prototyper)
The Database, designed to look like a game takes the viewer from exploring people’s personal lives and giving a rising sense of alarm that their own data might be with someone else, or it might be under surveillance. Through exploring the database, the user will come across many things like ways to protect yourself from it- what precautions to take and also they would get locked out of the database if they click on the wrong thing which would teach them that they should be careful of what they click online and what they share online. This database is meant for all those young adults who do not pay heed to the reality of surveillance and data protection.
User can only enter the database after they've fed in the right password and username.
Map of the world with different profiles and their accesses available.
Upon opening a profile, their personal information is revealed and accesses are granted to view their computer screens, webcam video, phone call, text messages and current locations
webcam access, similarly more accesses are granted (if available)
chat access denied as it is encrypted telling the user to use encryption
Similarly more errors are given if an access is unavailable teaching the user to take these certain precautions to protect themselves.
There are some hidden clicks in some of the profiles which activates these errors and logs the user out of the database upon clicking them. This also establishes the relationship of the watcher being watched, establishing that no one is safe.
A walk through of the database:
Video:
The video is an added deliverable to the project as it creates a sense of fear and paranoia to make the whole project stronger.
