What is Ours

Hasan Elahi innovatively critiques U.S. state surveillance with the use of technological deices. After being accused of being involved in terrorist activity and being detained, Hasan was ordered to keep the FBI informed of his whereabouts. He responded fervently. Through the use of a smart phone (its camera and GPS function especially), Hasan documented every move he made and presented it to his FBI handler each week, and then each month when they were to meet. Flooding the surveillance system with thousands of documentary photographs devalued the set as a whole. To the FBI, Hasan as an individual is only visible through his possibility of involvement in terrorist activity. He produces his “body” through the photographs (which, not unintentionally, never include his physical body) which he presents. It is, in fact, a presentation of himself, although portrayed in a documentary style. His race plays a key role in his plight. There is little reason beyond race why the FBI would continue to monitor Hasan despite the fact that he has been a citizen of the United States for quite some time. In his photographs, however, there is nothing that would set him apart due to his race. To me, this is yet more evidence that race can be rendered inconsequential. His gender is represented only in the numerous pictures of urinals and I am entirely unaware of how his sexuality functions. Hasan created a lovely critique of state surveillance in choosing to “aggressively comply” and monitor himself.

Monica Enríquez-Enríquez chose to critique state surveillance through the visual medium of digital video. In Asilo Queer, Enríquez speaks specifically of how she has been created through the labels given to her. In her eyes, she has been “written all over by the way in which she entered and is allowed to stay in this country.” As a queer Latina who was granted asylum in the United States, she is labeled as Columbian; she is labeled as a resident; she is labeled as a lesbian; she is labeled; she is labeled; she is labeled—and thus an identity which state surveillance can read as legible is formed. Her sexuality is noted in the writing on her body. Her race is noted in the writing on her body. Her story—why she left—is noted in the writing on her body. Her very language is interrupted by the definitions placed upon her.

I am concerned that as technology gets smarter and smarter, we will be monitored more and more. In a blog reviewing technology, Tom Simonite points out what exactly we are buying—what technological surveillance we are supporting. While the technology itself does not automatically have links beyond personal use, it is only a matter of time for some of the pieces’ data to be sold to various companies and businesses. In fact, Rattner, the CEO of Intel has stated that "Future devices will constantly learn about you. Your habits, how you go about your life, your friends. They'll know where you're going, they'll anticipate, they'll know your likes and dislikes." What isn’t common knowledge (via Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, etc.) will surely be the states information in relatively little time.

(http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/25758/)

Works Cited

tracking transience: http://trackingtransience.net/

Monica Enríquez-Enríquez's site: http://danm.ucsc.edu/~mpenriqu/home.html

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/25758/ 9/21/10