Networked Media Sampler/Based on a true story/a group

• keywords

tracking, identity, social media, *secrets*

• What is(are) the element(s) in the story that will be highlighted

(Users asking question to their friends on things such as finding a baby-sitter, google finds that not a normal behavior ) seems like Google want to determine the way we look for information

• One sentence to sum up the mini project

-> Physical tracking vs digital processes running in the background -> revealing these processes

• Draft (pictures, drawings, texts, sounds, etc)

Making "I Like"/"You Liked" stickers/postcards that are send to you every time you like something on FB

"Don't Worry, You're Boring" implementation in buttons (Firefox plug-in)

TRACKING

• Source: Google Is Determined to Crack the Social Code

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/technology/18google.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

AP Exclusive: CIA following Twitter, Facebook http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-cia-following-twitter-facebook-081055316.html

“Google’s culture is very much based on the power of the algorithm, and it’s very difficult to algorithm social interaction,” Ms. Li said.

“Google, as part of our mission to organize the world’s information, also needs to organize and make it very useful for you to see the interactions of your friends, to participate with them and benefit,” Mr. Gundotra said.

“Don’t worry, you’re boring“

"A California student got a visit from the FBI this week after he found a secret GPS tracking device on his car, and a friend posted photos of it online. The post prompted wide speculation about whether the device was real, whether the young Arab-American was being targeted in a terrorism investigation and what the authorities would do.

It took just 48 hours to find out: The device was real, the student was being secretly tracked and the FBI wanted its expensive device back."

source

Different Story's Perspectives

• Afifi ('victim')
• American Civil Liberties Union
• Khalend (Afifi's friend)
• Afifi's Father
• FBI
• Garage-mechanic who found the device
• Company that made the tracking device
• Kim Zetter (Wired article author)
• Former FBI agent (confirmed to Wired that it was a tracking device)
• Afifi's mother
• Afifi's Lawyer
• Afifi's Room-mate

From: Wired "Brian Alseth from the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington state contacted Afifi after seeing pictures of the tracking device posted online and told him the ACLU had been waiting for a case like this to challenge the ruling.

“This is the kind of thing we like to throw lawyers at,” Afifi said Alseth told him.

From: TPMMuckracker In addition to talking to the media about what happened with the agents, Affifi filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for his FBI file. Affifi received a package via overnight mail on Jan. 26 — the same day that FBI agents told his counsel that they wanted to further interrogate Affifi, according to the suit.

The FBI’s file described Affifi as a “bright hardworking student, trying to support his family…[who] would be great to work for the FBI,” according to the documents he obtained in his FOIA request.

"You caught them following you"

• Giving consent, while not understanding what this will imply in the future - I can say yes or no, therefore it seems like one is choosing, making an informed choice and not being invaded
• The theater of surveillance - the show, the fear climate