Thursday, April 18, 2013

Photography & Surveillance Readings


These ‘eavesdropping laws’ seem absurd now because they are outdated, and seemed unbalanced in comparison with the overbearing surveillance put on the public by the general authority of any kind (police, government or corporation).  I’m all for challenging this surveillance in all aspects of life, as we have to adjust to the constant possibility of being watched and our actions being analyzed, though this law with such a silly name doesn’t seem like the right option.  It acts like a trap, a protection of this already overbearing authority from the power of one person able to document them.  It is obvious by the reports of the officers what can be perceived by the naked eye can be interpreted and fudged to be understood in any way, and one persons saying their perceived truth can easily be brushed aside if a larger group with more power says something different.  However it’s not the case with a recording.  How is it possible to have two consenting individuals when it comes to daily surveillance, in every public place, or is in now assumed that it is simple expected wherever we go.

In Boston, a city in a state where there is eavesdropping laws, hundreds of people documented the area of the marathon before and after the bombing. On their own people have collected these images from the public to speculate on the event, following some 'suspects' through the images, circling and noting what they carry, who they give it to, what they’re wearing.  The public using the public images to investigate and share them again with the public, the information has no validity at the moment, but regardless on whether or not the people in the images have anything to do with the bombing, how could they really use the eavesdropping law?  Since the photographs come from hundreds of individuals on the day, the public would become protected by it’s own strength in size.

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