{"id":2088,"date":"2016-04-20T11:03:28","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T11:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doc.gold.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2016-04-20T13:28:31","modified_gmt":"2016-04-20T13:28:31","slug":"art-project-uses-snoopers-charter-surveillance-tech-to-data-mine-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.doc.gold.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2088","title":{"rendered":"Art project uses ‘Snooper\u2019s Charter’ surveillance tech to data mine your life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"better-forever\"<\/p>\n

A downloadable plugin that mines your browser for data – then builds a profile of your personality and lifestyle – has been created by Goldsmiths\u00a0Digital Arts Computing\u00a0student Joe McAlister.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s project, entitled You Probably Live in Horsham<\/a><\/em>, asks: If the government\u2019s \u2018Snooper\u2019s Charter\u2019 legitimises mass surveillance, can we use the same technology to study ourselves?<\/p>\n

An art piece with a strong political theme, Joe has combined a visual spy-like aesthetic with the programme\u2019s ability to generate eye-opening reports on the user\u2019s mind-set, creating a feeling of shock, awe, and a slight sense of unease.<\/p>\n

Designed to promote discussion around the paper trail we leave on the internet, and how safe that data is online, You Probably Live in Horsham<\/em> also asks the user to compare their online identity with how they see themselves in real life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our materialistic society many people\u2019s lives have become intertwined with the internet to such a degree it\u2019s become hard to imagine the boundaries between virtual and real,\u201d says Joe \u2013 a first-year Digital Arts Computing<\/a> undergraduate who\u2019s set to graduate in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to prompt people to look at their lives from a new perspective. When important elements of your identity appear in a list in front of you, it becomes de-humanising. You become just another person on a piece of paper, or in this case, a computer screen.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI want people to see it, step back a second, and consider a completely different side to their identity which they might not have previously seen.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Home Secretary\u2019s Investigatory Powers Bill demands web and phone companies log the IP addresses, URLS and connection times for every citizen for a year. Theresa May has emphasised how \u2018terrorists\u2019 are using the internet to evade detection and by using blanket surveillance they can help prevent this.\u00a0But at what point does this \u2018harmless\u2019 state surveillance become the precursor to something resembling a totalitarian state?\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes of You Probably Live in Horsham<\/em> it\u2019s a complex system: after the user installs a plugin, it injects a Javascript file into every website that\u2019s visited. This script will then use JQuery, Javascript and Ajax to collect the IP address, URL and timestamp of every web address.<\/p>\n

The data is then formatted into a storable format, and individual parts of it analysed. Given the project\u2019s purpose in raising awareness of data security, all data is stored locally in the user\u2019s browser, with only small elements sent temporarily via encrypted \u2018https\u2019 to remote servers run and secured by reputable companies.<\/p>\n

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Install the\u00a0<\/strong>plugin
\n<\/strong>Click here to download the plugin<\/a>. Once loaded simply press ‘add to chrome’.\u00a0The extension should now be installed and the eye icon should be visible in the top right hand side. The eye will move when it analyses a page. You don\u2019t need to do anything to prompt the analysing of a page just browse like normal. To view your paragraph as it generates click the eye icon. The longer you use the plugin the more accurate the data will be. I suggest using it for a few days\u00a0before taking what it says seriously.<\/p>\n

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After running the program for a short time on his own computer, Joe\u2019s report proved remarkably accurate, guessing among other facts that he went to Goldsmiths, travelled from Horsham in around 72 minutes, worked a lot late at night and was probably thinking mostly about \u201cSouthern Rail or big data\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"joe_mc\"
Joe McAlister caught on camera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The gathering of data then allows further assumptions to be made manually, even by people who don\u2019t know you.\u00a0For example, the programme shows that Joe owns a Mac and travels a lot so it\u2019s likely a lightweight version like a MacBook; he likes the artist Yayoi Kusama so it\u2019s likely he also likes other installation art; he\u2019s a computer programmer, appreciates art and goes to Goldsmiths, so he\u2019s likely to be studying Digital Arts Computing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe personas we display to people across our idealistic online lives and our more realistic lives can be very different,\u201d adds Joe. \u201cThis programme might generate a report for you that reflects your online escapism, or you\u2019ll find more of your real personality comes out.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom just a few dozen URLS, You Probably Live in Horsham<\/em> can generate huge amounts of data, and the longer you use the plug-in, the more accurate that data will be,\u201d adds Joe.\u00a0\u201cAnd unlike your inclusion in the government\u2019s data retention scheme, it\u2019s entirely optional and easy to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Adapted from a Goldsmiths News story<\/a> published on 20 April 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

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