Sousveillance On Tour? Or Making A Scene For The Heck Of It?

by Mike on Thursday, April 14th, 2005 @ 10:04AM
from the proving-a-point? dept.
Steve Mann (everyone's favorite cyborg professor) is trying to make a point about "sousveillance" by taking a bunch of folks with cameras (or bags with security camera "domes" attached to them) around shopping malls and pointing out all the various security cameras to be photographed as well. The whole thing comes off as sort of staged and silly. It's not really about making much of a point, other than having a large group of people suddenly show up in a store and taking photos. Of course the poorly trained security guards and store managers are going to get upset. They're not upset about the point that the group is making, but the fact that it's a large group of people being disruptive (and not buying things). Pointing out just how pervasive surveillance has gotten is one thing, but cheap showy spectacles like this don't so much prove a point, as make those trying to prove the point look like a bunch of annoying geeks trying to prove a point to exactly the wrong people. It makes it harder for others to discuss the issue seriously.