Steve Mann on the IKEA incident

Hey, I got email from Steve Mann! Cool!

He wrote in response to the posting about my photography experience at IKEA. He tells me that the Thursday evening panel discussion that I mentioned in this posting is going to cover the issues of surveillance versus sousveillance — where surveillance is turned upside down and the watched watch the watchers — and matters related to public versus private.

Thanks for the heads-up, Steve!

And double thank you for taking my “MISTER CYBORG” ribbing in the good-natured spirit in which it was intended. After all, who am I to talk? The present-day version of the rig he carries everywhere is less bulky and probably weighs a tenth as much as the accordion I carry everywhere.

(And as I take off my backpack and empty my pockets to change to dress up for tonight’s stag party for a friend, what do I see? In the backpack, a 12″ G4 Powerbook, power supply, Logitech MX500 mouse, spare power bar, small ethernet hub and power supply, USB ultra-bright LED reading light, USB hub. Ahem. In my pockets: Nikon Coolpix SQ camera, Samsung N370 cell phone, Mandylion password-memorizing/generating key fob, Handspring Visor Platinum, Planet Bike flashing ultra-bright LED bike light. Dammit, I may as well be a loosely-coupled cyborg myself.)

I extend a filet mignon on a flaming sword to the professor!

Maybe he’ll record the next Friday accordion video with me. The song I have in mind is Gary Numan’s Are “Friends” Electric?

Recommended Reading/Viewing

Steve Mann’s page on sousveillance. Who watches the watchers?

This is not “The Softer Side of Sears”. An MPEG video in which Steve asks Sears staff about their surveillance equipment. The whinging that the Sears staff do is quite something, and the way they react when they realize that they’re on camera is priceless.

Thanks to Steve Mann for the links!