Being Tracked While Learning About Being Tracked
1 min read
It's really good to see Laura Poitras's film on the Art of Dissent over on the New York Times. The film is amazing; earlier this spring, Kashmir Hill had a great writeup on their work, and more.
Two things struck me while visiting the NY Times to watch the film: first, the number of trackers that loaded on the page. Second, the film is preceded by an ad from IBM extolling the virtues of big data in policing.
Just for kicks, I took a screencast of the experience. You can see the trackers stacking up in the lower right hand corner of the screen. The ad plays while the trackers stack up.
So, the process of watching a film about dissent in the age of mass surveillance means exposing data to a range of corporate trackers, and watching an ad extolling the virtues of mass surveillance.
