I seem to be posting one post after another these days about technology and privacy in the real world.  I’m not sure if I’m completely weirded out by it all yet but I am learning a lot about how different corporations are tracking us. I’m still unsure about how I feel about it all but I’m at least happier to be a little more knowledgeable on the subject. The most recent creepy tracking device I have discovered are the Disney magicbands.  At first it appears to be very harmless and maybe it is to most.  If you are going to Disney World you now have the choice to wear a wrist band. The magicband is your ticket into the park, key to your room and can be swiped to purchase things because it is linked to your credit card.  I suppose on one hand it’s really nice for you as the customer because you don’t need to carry a wallet and it makes things a little more convenient (except for the fact that your kids might be buying things left and right with your credit card).  On the other hand it is a genius marketing strategy that is constantly collecting data on your every move while in the park.

When you sign up for the magicband Disney asks for your name, age, sex, favorite disney character and so on so that they can track your every move and categorize it properly.  This way if you are standing in line for a long time they can send your child’s favorite character over to say Hi or even Happy Birthday to distract them while you’re waiting. Disney will be especially likely to help you out in this way if they can see that you are a big spender in the park.  The amount of data that Disney can track on you and your families every move is endless and they can use it to tailor experiences for you and others in the future.

Some are comparing Disney to the NSA with their new fancy tracking devices.  I don’t know enough about it but I can certainly see some the the parallels.  If you have read any of my other posts recently you would see that I have been reading up on privacy in the real world a bit more than cyberspace privacy.  The common thread I see is that nothing is for free. I’m happy to be reading about tactics such as the magicbands because I’m more aware and cautious about what is happening to the information that I am giving out.  Often times, at least to me, the trade off of what is being offered is not worth the sharing of personal information.  I really don’t know enough about what companies are doing with some of my information to feel comfortable.  I hope that in the future some of this will be made more clear to the consumers and that the the choice of what to share and when to share it, at least in the real world, will continue to be a choice.

In an attempt to see what some of the art world is saying about privacy and technology these days I ran across artist Zach Blas who is creating masks that I found to be very intriguing. Zach is taking pictures of people who share some sort of demographic such as race or sexuality. He then aggregates their physical features using 3-Dimensional software to create a mask that is then unrecognizable to facial recognition software. He began doing this because he was concerned that facial recognition technologies have programed certain physical characteristics as a base or norm for identifying very diverse groups of people.

The following video explains further how facial recognition technology heavily relies on norms of race, age, class, and sex. This inherently will cause the technology to discriminate against minorities which is what inspired Zach to create his “Facial Weaponization Suite” series.

What I find interesting about Zachs work is the way that it comments on how masks are viewed in our current society. Many countries around the world have laws making it illegal to wear masks during a protest. In New York it’s illegal for 2 or more people to be wearing a mask in a public place together. In Canada new laws can give people a sentence of up to ten years for wearing mask where a riot is taking place. Some of the fear around masks is legitimate and understandable but the government might be contributing to it for there own agenda of creating facial recognition databases. What is interesting about Zach’s masks is that they are simply worn by people who would rather not be racially profiled. Unlike the scary undertones that some local government laws might project, this time the good guys wear masks .

Facial Weaponization Communiqué: Fag Face from Zach Blas.

I for one think this is a nice change of pace for the modern mask. After all masks have been found in different cultures and societies for centuries. Ancient greece used masks to depict theatrical tragedies. Countries in Asia and South America placed gold masks on royalty for burial. In other parts of Africa and asia masks have been used in rituals related to hunting, fertility or religion. Masks are continually utilized today for purposes of festivities as well as protection from wind of cold . All of these examples are positive examples of masks being used throughout history, I find it refreshing to see an artist creating masks that draw attention to the fear that surrounds masks all the while questioning the validity of technologies that governments use to “keep us safe”.

This past week in class our instructor Daina Watts shared a story with us about an experience she had buying some shoes.  She was originally searching for shoes on-line and shortly thereafter ads started popping up on her computer screen for those same shoes.  This is not anything that is unfamiliar to any of us.  Many of us are aware of he fact that our on-line habits are tracked and that different companies use that tracking data to personalize the ads that appear on our screens. The extra creepy part occurred a bit later when Dana bought the shoes in a store and suddenly the ads stopped appearing on her screen.  In class several people chalked it up to a coincidence but maybe it isn’t a coincidence at all.

It turns out that if you own a smart phone then you might just be tracked during your real world shopping experiences.  More and more retailers are investing in technology and surveillance cameras that will follow the wifi signal on your phone.  This technology allows for stores to study your habits while you are shopping around in the same way that amazon does when you are shopping online. According to an article in the New York Times in some situations if you have provided any personal information to the store by giving them your email or downloading their app then they can even get access to what you were looking at on the web the night before. Stores use this data to study shopping habits that will help them to make decisions about products people are interested in and areas of the store that seem to be under or over utilized. Retailers can also use it to personalize your shopping experience and send you coupons for things you have been looking at.

A Washington post article from October of last year states that the Future of Privacy Forum is is developing an opt out list for people who wish to register their device on a sort of “do not track” list.  Although the article stated that this registry would be launched in a few weeks it unfortunately has not yet been made available.

The question is would you sign up?  Is the idea of your shopping habits being tracked in the real world more troublesome to you than your shopping habits being tracked online?  I for one wouldn’t mind getting a coupon for the very item I’m thinking about buying.  After all, the ads on Daina’s screen did go away after she bought the shoes.  Now she can discover new deals not just based on her online shopping habits but her real world habits too.