Owen Mundy

Giving a talk today in Dresden, Germany titled, “Give Me My Data: A Facebook Application Inspired by the Stasi Files Controversy.” Here is the abstract.

During the final days of the German Democratic Republic (or GDR) it became evident that the Ministry for State Security (more popularly known as the “Stasi”) was destroying incriminating evidence from its 40-year history of domestic and international surveillance. These documents, which the Stasi was attempting to destroy using shredding machines, as well as by hand when the machines failed, included information gathered through various clandestine methods about lives of citizens of the GDR without their knowledge or consent.

On January 15, 1990, protestors stormed the Stasi headquarters in Berlin in attempt to prevent the destruction of personal records which they felt they should be able to access. The phrase, “Freiheit für meine Akte!” (in English: Freedom for my file!) spray painted on the Stasi guardhouse during this protest embodies a desire by citizens to open this closed world of state surveillance in order to understand the methods of control employed the Stasi

This moment in history inspires my ongoing project, Give Me My Data, a Facebook application that helps users export their data out of Facebook. While clearly utilitarian, this project intervenes into online user experiences, provoking users to take a critical look at their interactions within social networking websites. It suggests data is tangible and challenges users to think about ways in which their information is used for purposes outside of their control by government or corporate entities.

At the height of its operations, the Stasi is believed to have hired, between spies and full- and part-time informants, one in every 6.5 East German citizens to report suspicious activities, almost 2.5 million people.1 At this moment, the ratio of people entering data on Facebook to non-members is one in fourteen for the entire world,2 introducing possibly the most effective surveillance machine in history.

This week I have been enjoying the blurred images of German buildings whose owners have chosen to opt-out of Google Street View. Infamous moments in the country’s history have led Germans to take privacy very seriously; especially when it comes to information about their residences. Unlike the United States, where data privacy is an opt-out option, Germany law states that, “citizens must opt-in to have their data collected in any way.” (1). In fact, there is a document detailing the rights of the “data subject” in the German Federal Data Protection Act which serves “to protect the individual against his right to privacy being impaired through the handling of his personal data.”

An even more powerful gesture are the very public images that have resulted from this protection. While they serve a specific function—to obscure identifying aspects of buildings, faces, etc.—they also communicate very effectively the message that individuals should have the right to decide how their data is used. This gets to the heart of the Give Me My Data app—to prompt this sort of discussion. It is then ironic that Google, a company whose revenue is based almost completely on advertising opportunities made possible by aggregating and re-representing data, has inadvertently brought us this message.

I was excited to find my own apartment building in Berlin has been removed.

Another building down the street

Helge Denker, a reporter with the German daily, Das Bild, has found a clever way to opt-out.

Give Me My Data mentioned in a Bild article:

Die peinlichsten Einträge bei Facebook, StudiVZ und Twitter The most embarrassing messages on Facebook, StudiVZ, and Twitter (English), May 22, 2010

Read the full translation

(translated from German) “Many users are unaware that their comments will be permanently stored in networks. For example Facebook can retrieve all stored Stautusmeldungen. The U.S. Professor Owen Mundy has a developed application, Facebook members ever entered all the data and displays the posts. Under “Select Data”, you select which data you want to see (for example, personal data, status messages). Here also dive old, long deleted on posts, which are provided with a time code. Facebook apparently never forgets.”

FFF – Found Footage Film collection
curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne

“Found footage is a filmmaking term which describes a method of compiling films partly or entirely of footage which has not been created
by the filmmaker, and changing its meaning by placing it in a new context. The term refers to the “found object” (objet trouvé) of art history.”

VAD – Video Art Database
VideoChannel Cologne – Found Footage!
http://and.nmartproject.net/?p=2770

Listed artists/directors:

Agricola de Cologne (Germany)
Borja Alexandre (Spain)
Michael Brynntrup (Germany)
Jon Keith Brunelle (USA)
Maria Canas (Spain)
Larry Caveney (USA)
Sebastian Clej (Romania)
John Criscitello (USA)
Dr. Boston (USA)
Bill Domokos (USA)
Angie Eng (USA)
Clint Enns (Canada)
Enrique Freaza (Spain)
Rajorshi Ghosh (USA)
Doron Golan (Israel)
Juan David Gonzalez Monroy (Colombia)
Grace Graupe-Pillard (USA)
Constantin Hartenstein (Germany)
Denise Hood (USA)
Leslie Huppert (Germany)
Andrea Huyoff (Germany)
Katrina Inagaki (USA)
Jeremiah Jones (USA)
Ellen Lake (USA)
Irad Lee (Israel)
Fumiko Matsuyama (Japan)
Alistair McClymont (UK)
Davor Sanvicenti (Croatia)
Alexander Mouton (USA)
Owen Mundy (USA)
Toban Nicols (USA)
Jonas Nilsson (SWE)
Jun Ho Oh (South Korea)
Renata Padovan (Brazil)
Lobo Pasolini (Brazil)
Johanna Reich (Germany)
Joao Ricardo (Portugal)
Jasper Rigole (Belgium)
Joshua Rosenstock (USA)
Benjamin Rosenthal (USA)
Anthony Rousseau (France)
Benjamin Schultz-Figueroa (USA)
Jennifer Schwed (USA)
Ran Slavin (Israel)
Dennis Summers (USA)
Sonja Vuk (Croatia)
Philip Widmann (Germany)
James Woodward (USA)
Andreas Zingerle (Austria)