Re: Workshop RFID & Internet of Things

I don't at all see why art would be especially "radically complicit"
in the propagation of RFID any more than it has been in hundreds of
other technologies. (television monitoring for example).

Besides, RFID has already been hacked into. (http://www.pcworld.com/
news/article/0,aid,125096,00.asp)

Geert
http://nznl.com


On 4/04/2006, at 11:57 AM, [email protected] wrote:

> Quoting [email protected]:
>
>> RFID will play a pivotal role in fusing the physical world with
>> the digital.
>
> Is anyone else disturbed by the eagerness of art to promote the
> surveillance
> technology of RFID? I appreciate that this event admits the
> possibility of
> "critical" or "nightmarish" regard of RFID, but this is after a
> positive and
> uncritical presentation of the idea of "an internet of things" and its
> possibilities.
>
> I am concerned that art is being radically complicit in the
> propagation of RFID.
>
> - Rob.
>
> +
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> 29.php

Hi Rob & all,

You bring up an important question - we are going to be showing some
RFID work at the HTTP space (http://www.http.uk.net/) soon, which is a
Furtherfield exhibiting environment. And similar concerns have been
going through my mind…

And we will be supplying various bits of research and information about
RFID, at the space and online so that people can have alook for
themselves the less cute aspects of RFID, and how it is already
effecting our lives, and how it will also change things in the future -
Big Brother style.

I think that one of the issues that we are all dealing with here - is
that, there those who feel that, jumping into this area of exploration
is actually working in some way towards highlighting such issues around
surveillance, in respect of RFID's and the intigration of it as an
inevitable force, moving towards dominating everyday use in society;
restructuring the way that we behave as humans once we are caught under
the ever scrutinizing gaze of the watchers…

An equally large concern of mine, is that so many decisions are forced
to concede and conform to such corporate and draconian like
implimentations, which of course does alter they way we live our lives.
It is an extremely fundemental problem, that us citizens (worhtless
fodder) have no real offical discourse or say on how and if it is
appropriated. We have no control and are continiously being pusehd aside
by our governments who are making decisions for us, not on our terms
generally.

==============
For those who are not quite up to date with RFID technology - I have
pasted some info & links for you to browse over:

Types of RFID tags:

Passive

Passive RFID tags have no internal power supply. The minute electrical
current induced in the antenna by the incoming radio frequency signal
provides just enough power for the CMOS integrated circuit (IC) in the
tag to power up and transmit a response. Most passive tags signal by
backscattering the carrier signal from the reader. This means that the
aerial (antenna) has to be designed to both collect power from the
incoming signal and also to transmit the outbound backscatter signal.
The response of a passive RFID tag is not just an ID number (GUID); the
tag chip can contain nonvolatile EEPROM(Electrically Erasable
Programmable Read-Only Memory) for storing data. Lack of an onboard
power supply means that the device can be quite small: commercially
available products exist that can be embedded under the skin. As of
2006, the smallest such devices measured 0.15 mm

Hi Rob & all

you are right it may happen that art is
complicit in the propagation of RFID and the workshop
texts sounds also too euphorical for my taste -but anyhow
it is better to propagate knowledge about
RFIDs somehow, than keep it among the circles.

Lets hope that most artwork rather display
the "critical" or "nightmarish" regard of RFID and
that people start think themselves.
Everytime the cashier in my local supermarkets
ask me about wether i have a customer
card I keep telling them about RFID, surveillance and
how it will change their work and they still look
at me as if i am a little mad.

nad

these points, and the response about what makes RFID so especially
significant are interesting, and something that i think is being/has
been discussed in terms of locative media especially. i don't think
RFID should be especially singled out, as any art using any ICT (or
biotech, or nanotech, or any tech) is in some way complicit, even if
critical. but there are other questions that can the judgments of such
work more invested and relevant.
Jackie Stevens (who's work Natalie Bookchin's AgoraXchange
http://www.agoraxchange.net/ is based on) wrote an interesting and, i
think, applicable critique of such a political economy:
http://www.rtmark.com/legacy/rockwell.html
of course, i don't think Stevens is arguing for some kind of luddite
position, but rather for a systemic analysis of how such art works
function within the larger superstructures of culture and economics.
i think lots of people are starting to do some very interesting and
critical work with/about RFID tech (Beatriz daCosta & Brooke Singer
come to mind) that doesn't assume the "internet of things" as
inevitable and apolitical. the deliberate amateurization of the tech is
at least an interesting foil to the hierarchal control mechanisms built
into the distribution of the technology itself.
"surveillance" is such an abstract and ungrounded concept that really
doesn't allow for much engagement of anything substantial… kind of
like "ethics" and "sustainability."
just my quick thoughts on this…
best,
ryan

On Apr 4, 2006, at 7:03 AM, marc wrote:

> Hi Rob & all,
>
> You bring up an important question - we are going to be showing some
> RFID work at the HTTP space (http://www.http.uk.net/) soon, which is a
> Furtherfield exhibiting environment. And similar concerns have been
> going through my mind…
>
> And we will be supplying various bits of research and information
> about RFID, at the space and online so that people can have alook for
> themselves the less cute aspects of RFID, and how it is already
> effecting our lives, and how it will also change things in the future
> - Big Brother style.
>
> I think that one of the issues that we are all dealing with here - is
> that, there those who feel that, jumping into this area of exploration
> is actually working in some way towards highlighting such issues
> around surveillance, in respect of RFID's and the intigration of it as
> an inevitable force, moving towards dominating everyday use in
> society; restructuring the way that we behave as humans once we are
> caught under the ever scrutinizing gaze of the watchers…
>
> An equally large concern of mine, is that so many decisions are forced
> to concede and conform to such corporate and draconian like
> implimentations, which of course does alter they way we live our
> lives. It is an extremely fundemental problem, that us citizens
> (worhtless fodder) have no real offical discourse or say on how and if
> it is appropriated. We have no control and are continiously being
> pusehd aside by our governments who are making decisions for us, not
> on our terms generally.