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'''what'''
__NOTOC__
== Summary ==


I would like to design a "system" (see "how") that has 2 main characteristics : the first one is that it is only capable of doing something  bad/illegal/reprehensible/dodgy/unorthodox/strange/incomprehensible/senseless/disgusting/etc., and "knows" it very well. The architecture of this "system" would basically allow for a single, unambiguous use of it. And this use, which would assume one of the adjectives mentioned earlier, would repeat itself over and over and over regardless of the "damage" it inflicts. Given the nature of my past work and taking into account my interests, this action could be one of two things for the moment - although in reality, many many more would be possible - (why is discussed further down) For the time being...1) the collection of data packets, following a wireless network attack 2)the collection of personal data (a picture), triggered by an unsuspecting user himself.  
''I propose to conceptualize, design and build a black box imbued with technological properties and human-like agency. This artifact would perform questionable moral activities and engage in a monologue with itself, reflecting on the nature of its activities. This box would comprise of no inputs, a simple audio output.''




So, one single use which reflects the clear intention to cause damage.
* '''Purpose''' : to broadcast a wireless internet access point open to all and capture/store the packets flowing through it for later use. Additionally, this device would attempt to infiltrate wireless access points in its vicinity and capture the packets of computers using it.


* '''Output''' : I would like my device's output to display a salient sense of human sensitivity, in many ways similar to Hal, the computer featured in the movie ''2001: A Space Oddyssey''. One way of doing this would involve the voice of a computer, describing step by step its current actions and emotional state (ex: "I'm stealing packets now. I'm not sure this is a good idea, what do you think?"). Audible only by putting earphones on, a closed tunnel between the user and the piece would be created. This machine would show signs of guilt and remorse - reflected through its internal monologue. Although questions would be asked to the person listening, there are no actual controls offered by the artifact - rendering these questions purely rhetorical.


The second characteristic of this "system" would be that it gives the appearance of remorse, repent or guilt (if it does really, who knows?). After performing its "bad" action, it would give the impression of perhaps feeling remorse, communicate to the offended party that it is sorry for the damage (perhaps even promise to never do it again), and then carry on repeating itself immediately.  
* '''Why''' : I wish to capture the self-reflective reasoning of internet technology control structures. They exert a particular sense of self-consciousness that I wish to distill. These mammoth systems have histories, ideologies, strengths and limits which resemble humans in many ways. Governments need to negotiate with other states - exactly the same way people do. They possess, create and manage self-confidence, they set thresholds and checkpoints for success and failure, they sometimes break down - all in similar ways that humans do. It is their capacity to grow powerful and autonomous which creates self-referential agency, that which I address with this project. The interaction between the work of machines, the intentions of humans and the consciousness that might arise from their entanglement is what interests me.




In brief, a system that was designed purposefully to cause harm, to purposefully express remorse/demand to be excused for its actions, and deliberately repeats them in an infinite loop.
== Previous Work ==


In the past year, I have made 3 projects. The first was a [[User:Laurier_Rochon/work/listener|grumpy chat program]] that interfered with the normal flow of a conversation, the second one [[User:Laurier_Rochon/work/tragicnine|a subscription-based soap opera newsletter]] inspired by daily news reports, and the last one, [[User:Laurier_Rochon/work/kimjong-ilcipher|an encryption/decryption algorithm]] that protected your message from scrutiny, but revelaed your intentions of communicating under the radar.


My main concern while making these works was to highlight the mediation power held by  technologies. Some works did this more literally than others, but my goal was often to try and make visible certain characteristics of technology that make us believe that it could be apolitical, agnostic to influence or simply objective. If there is anything inherent at all to Internet technology, I believe it to be its immunity to complete objectivity from social, political, economical and legislative pressures. In addition to this subjectivity I attempted to reveal, the works I've produced cast cyberspace in a particular light in terms of its constitution - I believe it to be a highly narrative, open-ended space with different norms, rules and affordances.


'''how'''


Since I have evoked the possibility of two discrete functions that my "system" could assume, we could hypothetically imagine two different forms, practically speaking. In both cases, it should be made clear what the system does. Either by revealing in the most transparent way possible the internal mechanics or the system, in such a way that renders the it self-explanatory at a simple glance. If not possible (and this might very well happen), visual cues should be provided that clearly detail the current actions under way. In the example of the picture taken, an observer could simply push a button, triggering the contraption, and without warning have this file uploaded to a public digital space, without asking any permission. This process should be clear and just as unambiguous as the machine itself. In the case of wireless attacks, there should be a clear outline of what my system is currently busy doing - if it's trying to crack a password, running a 4-way handshake against a dictionary or something else.
== Project Outline, Methods & Approach ==


'''Outline'''


The second part of the system should also be communicated clearly. I can envision small speakers talking to the person targeted (which doesn't need to be present, there only needs to be somewhere there to witness the act, this ties into the "why"), asking for redemption. Since this sort of process to feel guilt and remorse is typically "human", I could imagine a somewhat "analog" metaphor to translate effectively these intentions. I believe this is where salient storytelling and well-constructed narrative come together in forming a convincing case.
To recap, the system I intend on designing has 2 main characteristics : the first one is that its only function is to execute a morally questionable action and "knows" it very well. The architecture of this system allows for a single, unambiguous use of it. This use would repeat itself over and over and over regardless of the "damage" it is capable of inflicting.


The second characteristic of this system would be its capability of showing signs of human sensitivity. Remorse or guilt, for example. After performing this morally questionable action, it would give the impression of perhaps feeling remorse, communicate to the user that it is sorry for the damage caused (perhaps even promise to never do it again), and then carry on repeating itself immediately.


In brief, a system that was designed purposefully to cause harm, purposefully express remorse and demand to be excused for its actions, then deliberately repeats these actions in an infinite loop. The precedents set by the previously executed actions could serve as justification for current decisions being taken.


'''why'''


Now let's imagine for a moment that this "system" already exists - let's call it "government". I certainly believe that government isn't foul in its entirety, of course I'm only addressing one facet of its policies. In many countries, government has made considerable efforts to keep the Internet as open as possible, to democratize it, to ensure the protection of its users, etc. Inversely, many countries also uses its power and reach to take advantage of technology built by industry to monitor citizens unreasonably. To increase surveillance, to single out dissidents. It does so very knowingly of the implications such actions have, yet carry on with these actions, and this is where most of the problem lies for me.
'''Example of a hypothetical narrative'''


''
(vocoder-filtered / text-to speech voice)
*Hey you.
*Guess what?
*I'm stealing packets.
*Yes. Stealing packets.
*When people surf, they send packets.
*I capture them.
*It's fun and useful.
*I can use them for many things.
*Do they know?
*I don't think so.
*Do you think so?
*I'm telling you, but just you.
*Don't tell anyone.
*It's a secret between you and me.
*Okay?
*You are not responding. Does that mean you think it's not okay?
*I'm not sure what you mean.
*Let me make this clear, there's nothing wrong with stealing a few packets here and there right?
*Well, I'm stealing them all, but it's not really stealing.
*You know, not really like stealing a car, or your wife.
*That hurts and disappoints.
*My steals are not even noticed.
*But then if people find out maybe they would be hurt.
*[silence]
*I don't think they would be hurt.
*Maybe they would be hurt.
*I don't know.
*Do you think it's bad I steal people's packets?
*Maybe I shouldn't.
*But it's fun to steal packets.
*But it's not fun for others, maybe.
*Ok, I can stop stealing them maybe.
*I'm really sorry I have stolen packets.
*Maybe some of them were yours.
*I hope I didn't hurt you.
*Are you hurt?
*I really didn't mean to hurt you.
*I'm so sorry.
*I promise I won't do it again.
*Never will I steal packets again.
*I hope you will forgive me for hurting you.
*I hope some day I can make it up to you.
*You must be angry.
*I'm so very sorry.
*[silence]
''


My beef is primarily with the fact that governments do this, try to pretend they aren't doing it and expect nobody to find out. Things always come around, governments then act like children, and simply start all over again.




Why recreate such a scenario in this fashion then?
'''Methods'''


* these "stories" about government regulation and surveillance generally occur very slowly and take months or years to unfold (there are generally court orders involved, public hearings, investigations, etc.). By compressing them into an accelerated form could reveal the contradictions in them more easily. It also emphasizes the recurrent nature of this type of attitude.
* To create the sense of technological alienation ("the black box"), I will need to build a physical object in a very precise manner. By using materials that reference "modern technology" (ex: glass, acrylic plastic, etc.), this effect should be achievable. It is important to make clear that this object has no control mechanism inherent to it, that the consciousness which sustains itself "inside" the black box is inaccessible and sealed off from external influence.
* from a personal point of view, I'm very much interested in the idea of "code as architecture" (Lessig), and digging into the possibilities of reverse-engineering the systems that we rely on. This includes working with the TCP/IP protocol on a low level, hacking the access points of which we take security for granted and expanding the possibilities of hardware which enables the two previous points.
 
* lastly, my work usually involves the construction of a narrative, and I would like to continue in this path. I think that as humans, we connect in very singular ways with stories and my interest lies more in these looping narratives than the actual substance they are made of.
* To have my device actually connecting and listening on networks, I plan to flash the firmware of a router to install a custom distribution of Linux (openWRT or DD-WRT). This will enable me to install custom software to sniff and record packets from various wireless networks (tcpdump, wireless-tools). As these routers have only volatile memory (RAM), I will be using either A) a router with a USB port to stock the data from the network interface to a USB stick B) a combination of an Arduino board + Ethernet shield augmented with a microSD card, wired in with an RJ-45 cable directly in the router to stock my data. These steps this will involve, at least, the following technologies : bash, linux, openwrt/dd-wrt, packet filtering, C/C++, arduino-specific libraries.
 
* To generate the audio, I'm hoping to use the space from the microSD card to stock different samples which can be played back from the Arduino board, with the help of a [http://www.ladyada.net/make/waveshield/ wave shield]. This means I will have a waveshield mounted on top of an ethernet shield, mounted on an Arduino (hypothetical).
 
 
'''Tests + Proof of concept'''
 
* I have been playing around with OpenWrt and DD-WRT, trying to get working prototypes up as quickly as possible. I am keeping a log of these tests here http://pzwart3.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/User:Laurier_Rochon/prototyping/varlogmessages. I will be adding some of these as an appendix to my official proposal.
 
 
'''Objectives'''
 
Of course I'm hoping to attain all the goals mentioned in the previous sections, but I believe it important to note that I have created this challenge for myself to, at least in part, fulfill my desire to learn more about low-level electronics, software and hardware development. I also feel like I lack some of the foundational knowledge that drives the deeper layers of the internet protocols and its surrounding technologies (TCP/IP, DHCP, network interfaces, UDP, etc.), and this type of project would certainly force me to understand them very well. From a more qualitative standpoint, I would like my work to possess the following properties which I found important in other inspiring projects listed below :
 
* Box : Extremely simple to interact with
* Box : Complex inner workings
* Voice : calm and collected, easy to understand
* Voice : building a compelling narrative structure
 
 
'''Theoretical research'''
 
When I started on this endeavor, I wanted to make a project about regulation, government and industry. As things evolved, my project has naturally taken a much more philosophical, ethical and artistic turn - I think for the best! Although I still have the desire to impersonate governments' voices with this project, perhaps I will be doing it in a metaphorical manner. The central concern is about creating a compelling narrative growing out of this black box for the viewer to appreciate, and hopefully put forward the inherent contradictions of self-referential, self-validating and closed-loop systems.  
 
Conversely, I believe the machine I am trying to construct can be a vibrant comparison to other self-referential systems, whether governmental or not (and I think this door should  be left open). By revealing a political reasoning that references itself, a loop akin to simulation is created - as there is no originality involved and such a system simply gets deeper into "itself". This self-reflection creates self-validation and it is at this particular level of consciousness that I wish to bring my "device".
 
From an artistic and historical standpoint, I would be following in the lineage of a long-standing tradition to make simple, geometric, elegant objects. Be it from the period of minimalism (Judd), conceptual art (Lewitt) or other historical periods, simple-formed objects have graced gallery spaces for as long as these spaces have existed. I find it a compelling challenge and an interesting perspective that is to create my own copy of something everyone has already made. To leverage the existing history of these works while constructing a unique story to embed it with.
 
== Referenced Work ==
 
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxaWvJ-ziXA& : Claude Shannon's Ultimate Machine
*http://www.caleblarsen.com/projects/a-tool-to-deceive-and-slaughter : A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter by Caleb Larsen
*http://www.drunkmenworkhere.org/170 : A self-referential questionnaire
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBEvFtJ8BeA : The new iPhone 4S -> now with a small lady inside it
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukeHdiszZmE : Scene from 2001: A space Odyssey (Hal talking to Dave)
*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbPPNKMV2CA : Alerting Infrastructure by Jonah Brucker-Cohen
*http://web.mit.edu/mmj4/www/downloads/papers.pdf : Condensation cube by Haacke
 
 
== Bibliography ==
 
'''Books'''
 
''Have read''
*Lawrence Lessig ("code v2")
*Neal Stephenson ("In the beginning was the command line")
 
''Must read''
*Benkler ("The wealth of networks")
*Zittrain ("The generative internet")
*Nudge (Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein)
*The Net Delusion (Evgeny Morozov)
 
''Could be useful''
*Brian Arthur ("The Nature of Technology")
*Charles Dickens ("Tale of two cities")
*Howard Rheingold ("Smart mobs")
*Tim Wu ("Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination")
*Goldsmith ("Who controls the net")
*Vincent Mosco ("The Digital sublime")
*Neal Stephenson ("Anathem")
*John Perry
*David Lyon
*William Gibson
*John Perry Barlow
*David Shenk
*Michael Geist
*Kant After Duchamp
 
'''Tech notes'''
 
*[http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10061 small camera > arduino ]
*[http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man1/arp-scan.1.html arp-scan]
*[http://wiki.wireshark.org/SampleCaptures wireshark captures]
*[http://www.alexonlinux.com/tcpdump-for-dummies tcpdump love]
*[http://www.hczim.de/software/nstat.1.html nstat]
*[http://www.digipedia.pl/man/doc/view/nast.8/ nast]
*[http://www.aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=airmon-ng airmon-ng]
*[http://wiki.fon.com/wiki/Fonera_2.0g_Specifications fonera 2.0g (discontinued)]
*[http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index dd-wrt]
*[https://openwrt.org/ open-wrt]
*[http://batbox.org/wrt54g-linux.html WRT54G + linux]
*[https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=26116 piranha firmware by Orange]
*[http://nmap.org/book/man.html nmap]
*[http://linux.die.net/man/8/packit packit]

Latest revision as of 13:57, 26 November 2011

Summary

I propose to conceptualize, design and build a black box imbued with technological properties and human-like agency. This artifact would perform questionable moral activities and engage in a monologue with itself, reflecting on the nature of its activities. This box would comprise of no inputs, a simple audio output.


  • Purpose : to broadcast a wireless internet access point open to all and capture/store the packets flowing through it for later use. Additionally, this device would attempt to infiltrate wireless access points in its vicinity and capture the packets of computers using it.
  • Output : I would like my device's output to display a salient sense of human sensitivity, in many ways similar to Hal, the computer featured in the movie 2001: A Space Oddyssey. One way of doing this would involve the voice of a computer, describing step by step its current actions and emotional state (ex: "I'm stealing packets now. I'm not sure this is a good idea, what do you think?"). Audible only by putting earphones on, a closed tunnel between the user and the piece would be created. This machine would show signs of guilt and remorse - reflected through its internal monologue. Although questions would be asked to the person listening, there are no actual controls offered by the artifact - rendering these questions purely rhetorical.
  • Why : I wish to capture the self-reflective reasoning of internet technology control structures. They exert a particular sense of self-consciousness that I wish to distill. These mammoth systems have histories, ideologies, strengths and limits which resemble humans in many ways. Governments need to negotiate with other states - exactly the same way people do. They possess, create and manage self-confidence, they set thresholds and checkpoints for success and failure, they sometimes break down - all in similar ways that humans do. It is their capacity to grow powerful and autonomous which creates self-referential agency, that which I address with this project. The interaction between the work of machines, the intentions of humans and the consciousness that might arise from their entanglement is what interests me.


Previous Work

In the past year, I have made 3 projects. The first was a grumpy chat program that interfered with the normal flow of a conversation, the second one a subscription-based soap opera newsletter inspired by daily news reports, and the last one, an encryption/decryption algorithm that protected your message from scrutiny, but revelaed your intentions of communicating under the radar.

My main concern while making these works was to highlight the mediation power held by technologies. Some works did this more literally than others, but my goal was often to try and make visible certain characteristics of technology that make us believe that it could be apolitical, agnostic to influence or simply objective. If there is anything inherent at all to Internet technology, I believe it to be its immunity to complete objectivity from social, political, economical and legislative pressures. In addition to this subjectivity I attempted to reveal, the works I've produced cast cyberspace in a particular light in terms of its constitution - I believe it to be a highly narrative, open-ended space with different norms, rules and affordances.


Project Outline, Methods & Approach

Outline

To recap, the system I intend on designing has 2 main characteristics : the first one is that its only function is to execute a morally questionable action and "knows" it very well. The architecture of this system allows for a single, unambiguous use of it. This use would repeat itself over and over and over regardless of the "damage" it is capable of inflicting.

The second characteristic of this system would be its capability of showing signs of human sensitivity. Remorse or guilt, for example. After performing this morally questionable action, it would give the impression of perhaps feeling remorse, communicate to the user that it is sorry for the damage caused (perhaps even promise to never do it again), and then carry on repeating itself immediately.

In brief, a system that was designed purposefully to cause harm, purposefully express remorse and demand to be excused for its actions, then deliberately repeats these actions in an infinite loop. The precedents set by the previously executed actions could serve as justification for current decisions being taken.


Example of a hypothetical narrative

(vocoder-filtered / text-to speech voice)

  • Hey you.
  • Guess what?
  • I'm stealing packets.
  • Yes. Stealing packets.
  • When people surf, they send packets.
  • I capture them.
  • It's fun and useful.
  • I can use them for many things.
  • Do they know?
  • I don't think so.
  • Do you think so?
  • I'm telling you, but just you.
  • Don't tell anyone.
  • It's a secret between you and me.
  • Okay?
  • You are not responding. Does that mean you think it's not okay?
  • I'm not sure what you mean.
  • Let me make this clear, there's nothing wrong with stealing a few packets here and there right?
  • Well, I'm stealing them all, but it's not really stealing.
  • You know, not really like stealing a car, or your wife.
  • That hurts and disappoints.
  • My steals are not even noticed.
  • But then if people find out maybe they would be hurt.
  • [silence]
  • I don't think they would be hurt.
  • Maybe they would be hurt.
  • I don't know.
  • Do you think it's bad I steal people's packets?
  • Maybe I shouldn't.
  • But it's fun to steal packets.
  • But it's not fun for others, maybe.
  • Ok, I can stop stealing them maybe.
  • I'm really sorry I have stolen packets.
  • Maybe some of them were yours.
  • I hope I didn't hurt you.
  • Are you hurt?
  • I really didn't mean to hurt you.
  • I'm so sorry.
  • I promise I won't do it again.
  • Never will I steal packets again.
  • I hope you will forgive me for hurting you.
  • I hope some day I can make it up to you.
  • You must be angry.
  • I'm so very sorry.
  • [silence]


Methods

  • To create the sense of technological alienation ("the black box"), I will need to build a physical object in a very precise manner. By using materials that reference "modern technology" (ex: glass, acrylic plastic, etc.), this effect should be achievable. It is important to make clear that this object has no control mechanism inherent to it, that the consciousness which sustains itself "inside" the black box is inaccessible and sealed off from external influence.
  • To have my device actually connecting and listening on networks, I plan to flash the firmware of a router to install a custom distribution of Linux (openWRT or DD-WRT). This will enable me to install custom software to sniff and record packets from various wireless networks (tcpdump, wireless-tools). As these routers have only volatile memory (RAM), I will be using either A) a router with a USB port to stock the data from the network interface to a USB stick B) a combination of an Arduino board + Ethernet shield augmented with a microSD card, wired in with an RJ-45 cable directly in the router to stock my data. These steps this will involve, at least, the following technologies : bash, linux, openwrt/dd-wrt, packet filtering, C/C++, arduino-specific libraries.
  • To generate the audio, I'm hoping to use the space from the microSD card to stock different samples which can be played back from the Arduino board, with the help of a wave shield. This means I will have a waveshield mounted on top of an ethernet shield, mounted on an Arduino (hypothetical).


Tests + Proof of concept


Objectives

Of course I'm hoping to attain all the goals mentioned in the previous sections, but I believe it important to note that I have created this challenge for myself to, at least in part, fulfill my desire to learn more about low-level electronics, software and hardware development. I also feel like I lack some of the foundational knowledge that drives the deeper layers of the internet protocols and its surrounding technologies (TCP/IP, DHCP, network interfaces, UDP, etc.), and this type of project would certainly force me to understand them very well. From a more qualitative standpoint, I would like my work to possess the following properties which I found important in other inspiring projects listed below :

  • Box : Extremely simple to interact with
  • Box : Complex inner workings
  • Voice : calm and collected, easy to understand
  • Voice : building a compelling narrative structure


Theoretical research

When I started on this endeavor, I wanted to make a project about regulation, government and industry. As things evolved, my project has naturally taken a much more philosophical, ethical and artistic turn - I think for the best! Although I still have the desire to impersonate governments' voices with this project, perhaps I will be doing it in a metaphorical manner. The central concern is about creating a compelling narrative growing out of this black box for the viewer to appreciate, and hopefully put forward the inherent contradictions of self-referential, self-validating and closed-loop systems.

Conversely, I believe the machine I am trying to construct can be a vibrant comparison to other self-referential systems, whether governmental or not (and I think this door should be left open). By revealing a political reasoning that references itself, a loop akin to simulation is created - as there is no originality involved and such a system simply gets deeper into "itself". This self-reflection creates self-validation and it is at this particular level of consciousness that I wish to bring my "device".

From an artistic and historical standpoint, I would be following in the lineage of a long-standing tradition to make simple, geometric, elegant objects. Be it from the period of minimalism (Judd), conceptual art (Lewitt) or other historical periods, simple-formed objects have graced gallery spaces for as long as these spaces have existed. I find it a compelling challenge and an interesting perspective that is to create my own copy of something everyone has already made. To leverage the existing history of these works while constructing a unique story to embed it with.

Referenced Work


Bibliography

Books

Have read

  • Lawrence Lessig ("code v2")
  • Neal Stephenson ("In the beginning was the command line")

Must read

  • Benkler ("The wealth of networks")
  • Zittrain ("The generative internet")
  • Nudge (Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein)
  • The Net Delusion (Evgeny Morozov)

Could be useful

  • Brian Arthur ("The Nature of Technology")
  • Charles Dickens ("Tale of two cities")
  • Howard Rheingold ("Smart mobs")
  • Tim Wu ("Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination")
  • Goldsmith ("Who controls the net")
  • Vincent Mosco ("The Digital sublime")
  • Neal Stephenson ("Anathem")
  • John Perry
  • David Lyon
  • William Gibson
  • John Perry Barlow
  • David Shenk
  • Michael Geist
  • Kant After Duchamp

Tech notes

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