netopticon project

netopticon report
http://no-org.net/opticon/submission.php

Together with superficial anonymity and seemingly apparent ways of hiding or faking one's identity, the Internet delivers a new set of powerful and sophisticated instruments of surveillance. Network activity of an individual user, intercepted on the borders of ostensibly integral web realm, is easily back-traced by power holders - via IP address to ID number - and provides the agent for latent supervision of controlling eye-ear.

Scouting and tight inspection of personal information, at times readily exposed, serves economical and political interests of the system, helps creating the new ways of control and improves the old ones. Established around network security commercial structures continuously populate virtual file-cabinets, simultaneously supporting the channels of supervised data distribution.

netopticon - the current project of no-org.net - is an attempt to create an artistic and textual report on the topic of infringement of privacy and its protection. We are looking forward to net art works and texts dealing with resistance to manipulatively mediated concept of security, to art projects devoted to true anonymity of net-surfing and net-correspondence, to works intentionally feeding systems with falsified data, to any remarks, suggestions and ideas that would add up to a contemporary report on the topic.

Although it is not exclusive condition, projects that work on the three major platforms (Linux, Macintosh and Windows) are preferred.

Extended deadline for submissions is April, 15, 2005

The exhibition will be launched by the end of April 2005.

diego