Jun 1, 2008
the world has a new hero
after inadvertently finding out that he was listed on the United States of America’s terror watchlist, media artist and professor Hasan Elahi was surprised to discover he was the subject of extensive surveillance being carried out by the US government.
Elahi decided that the only way to contend with the slightly irritating issue of being an FBI target and the daunting prospect of an all-expenses-paid trip to Guantanamo was to take surveillance matters into his own hands. The result has been the documentation of Elahi’s entire life online, with nearly 20,000 photos of everything that takes place in his life, from the food he ate today to the toilets he has used. Elahi speculates that the swamping of the online space with personal data may one day undermine the abilities of dear big brother, and meanwhile has rendered surveillance upon himself completely useless and valueless by practicing it extremely publicly (and comprehensively) himself.
His statement is both intriguing and inspiring. Dig it. As as for all my babble about lifemapping? it seems it’s already here.