Consider the various image-sharing databases online: Facebook’s photo stores, Instagram, Flickr. These contain trillions of photographs, petabytes of fragile digital data, growing daily, without limit; every day, millions of users worldwide upload the images they capture on their phones and cameras to the cloud, there to be stored, processed, enhanced, shared, tagged, commented on. AndContinue reading “Resisting Big Data: Interfering With ‘Collaboration,’ Nonconsensually”
Tag Archives: surveillance
Report On Brooklyn College Teach-In On ‘Web Surveillance And Security’
Yesterday, as part of ‘The Brooklyn College Teach-In & Workshop Series on Resistance to the Trump Agenda,’ I facilitated a teach-in on the topic of ‘web surveillance and security.’ During my session I made note of some of the technical and legal issues that are play in these domains, and how technology and law haveContinue reading “Report On Brooklyn College Teach-In On ‘Web Surveillance And Security’”
Drones And The Beautiful World They Reveal
Over the past year or so, I have, on multiple occasions, sat down with my toddler daughter to enjoy BBC’s epic nature documentary series Planet Earth. Narrated by the incomparable David Attenborough, it offers up hour-long packages of visual delight in stunning high-definition: giant waterfalls, towering mountains and icebergs, gigantic flocks of birds, roaring volcanoesContinue reading “Drones And The Beautiful World They Reveal”
Self-Policing In Response To Pervasive Surveillance
On Thursday night, in the course of conversation with some of my Brooklyn College colleagues, I confessed to having internalized a peculiar sort of ‘chilling effect’ induced by a heightened sensitivity to our modern surveillance state. To wit, I said something along the lines of “I would love to travel to Iran and Pakistan, butContinue reading “Self-Policing In Response To Pervasive Surveillance”
Are There No Ethically Uncompromised Lunches In The Universe?
Once upon a time a farmer told his neighbors that they could use his land for ‘free’–as a kind of community recreational space. His neighbors were told they could set up little stalls. where they could play music, show off their handicrafts, display family photo albums, and of course, walk over to their friends’ spacesContinue reading “Are There No Ethically Uncompromised Lunches In The Universe?”
Facebook and Writers’ Status Messages
My last post on Facebook led me to think a bit more its–current and possible–integration into our lives, especially those conducted online. As ‘net users are by now aware, almost any site you visit on the ‘net features a Facebook button so that you can indicate whether you ‘Like’ the page and thus, share itContinue reading “Facebook and Writers’ Status Messages”
Nice Try NSA-Defenders (Not!)
There are two very bad arguments and one rather illiterate confusion making the rounds in the wake of the NSA surveillance scandal. I’ll consider each of them briefly. First, we have the ‘it was legal’ argument: the surveillance was sanctioned by the Patriot Act, approved by FISA courts, and Congress was in the loop etc.Continue reading “Nice Try NSA-Defenders (Not!)”
The NSA Needs Better Apologists than Charles Shanor
Professor Charles Shanor of Emory university thinks that ‘liberals and civil libertarians’ are making a mountain out of a digital molehill. Apparently, we should be reassured by the fact that the NSA‘s data collection was legal under the terms of the Patriot Act (you know, that civil liberties disaster), that FISA judges approved it, that selectContinue reading “The NSA Needs Better Apologists than Charles Shanor”
Glenn Greenwald is Not the Story; The Surveillance Is
The New York Times has an article on Glenn Greenwald, who has broken two stories on the NSA surveillance programs that now occupy most thinking people’s attention, which is titled thus: ‘Activist Blogger Is At The Center Of A Debate‘ on its front page. (The article’s title reads ‘ Blogger, With Focus on Surveillance, Is atContinue reading “Glenn Greenwald is Not the Story; The Surveillance Is”
The Spying Will Continue Until Morale Improves
The New York Times, picking up on a Guardian story by Glenn Greenwald, reports that: The Obama administration is secretly carrying out a domestic surveillance program under which it is collecting business communications records involving Americans under a hotly debated section of the Patriot Act, according to a highly classified court order disclosed on Wednesday night. The order,Continue reading “The Spying Will Continue Until Morale Improves”
Samir Chopra 