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Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

villagevoice.com

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Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#101

Post by eternalban »

walterbell wrote: post #5

Alphabet's NYC kiosks also have two cameras which are recording passers-by, https://cryptome.org/2016/06/linknyc-spy-kiosks-installation... A dystopian "smart city" vision can be seen in the "Hyper Reality" video, http://hyper-reality.co that is inspired by Magic Leap's AR, in which Google is an investor.

And let's not forget the On The Go kiosks [1][2] I thought this was clever and partially addressed the gap in surveillance between swiping your card at known location and egress at some random location. This baby helpfully gives you the option to tell it where you are going.

[1]: http://screenmediadaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/mta_o...

[2]: https://www.intersection.com/assets/pdfs/Press-Release.pdf

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#102

Post by kbenson »

mindslight wrote: post #99
kbenson wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Have you ever visited New York, its announced every 15 minutes or so on subways. My point is more that it's creepy in general, not specifically because of these devices (but the relation to 1984's telescreens is obvious), and that if it's prevalent in NYC (which I assumed), then I definitely don't want to live there. To me that feels like living with a sensationalist newscast about past terrorism always playing in…

I infer you've never been to the US? NYC is the most emo about it, but the same basic terrorist religion is present in all state media - both government and "private". As always, cui bono .

Born and raised in California. I haven't been to New York, but I have driven across the country before (but not for quite some time).

> the same basic tragedy religion is present in all state media

Yes, but it's less pronounced where I live at least. I think New York has possibly had some it's cultural identity subsumed by this, but that's is not entirely new. There are portions of the country where historical occurrences from much further in the past inform the mindset of the population (at least a little) to this day. Such as the civil war.

I still think it's worth point out though, as urging people to be aware of suspicious activity everywhere is at best pointless, and possibly counter-productive. Either you can't relax, or you get a false sense of security about situations where heightened awareness is actually useful (such as large gatherings of people). In that respect, it's security theater.

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#104

Post by spot »

morgante wrote: post #38

Funny, I don't see the Village Voice writing screeds about how terrible it is that NYC has a subway system or busses, even though advertising (ie. "propoganda") helps to underwrite their costs as well.

even more funny: the village voice is ad supported.

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#105

Post by FT_intern »

heheocoenev wrote: post #8

I was walking down 3rd ave at 2am a week ago. I saw a homeless man with headphones listening to music on YouTube on a link. He had a little chair and was rocking out. It was beautiful. We might give up a lot, but maybe those with nothing to give have plenty to gain.

I don't think there's much to gain from tracking the homeless tbh.

The data will be analyzed for interesting, non monetizeable insights.

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#106

Post by mindslight »

kbenson wrote: post #102
mindslight wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I infer you've never been to the US? NYC is the most emo about it, but the same basic terrorist religion is present in all state media - both government and "private". As always, cui bono .

Born and raised in California. I haven't been to New York, but I have driven across the country before (but not for quite some time). > the same basic tragedy religion is present in all state media Yes, but it's less pronounced where I live at least. I think New York has possibly had some it's cultural identity subsumed by this, but that's is not entirely new. There are portions of the country where historical occurr…

Yes, it is more pronounced in NYC. Other places lack an implicit pretext, so their "normal" is fewer allusions to that particular event.

The entire meme of "terrorism" is counterproductive, unless your goal is to scare the population into helplessness. The people that create explosions and the ones who endlessly harp on the possibility of future destruction are essentially working for the same team.

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#107

Post by mnutt »

EGreg wrote: post #52
kbenson wrote: post #39

As he spoke, the screens shifted and a new message appeared: "If You See Something, Say Something. Be Suspicious of Anything Unattended." Okay, that's kind of creepy. [Google] actually went so far last year as to shit-can its own "Don't be evil" admonition to its employees in favor of "Obey the law" No, they didn't[1]. Alphabet has a slightly more formal code of conduct[2], and it's not simply "Obey the law", it's "f…

"If you see something, say something" (spanish "Si ves algo, di algo" ) is NYC's campaign in the aftermath of terrorism, and has been going on for over a decade. Its origins are not creepy and at this point most of the city's population is used to it. You can see it especially on any MTA properties such as subways, where they worry unattended luggage may contain a bomb, so they ask people to report such.

Following that campaign, I remember seeing subway ads for years saying things like "Last year, 1,944 New Yorkers saw something and said something". But none of those calls had anything to do with terrorism. I'd say the campaign is both dangerous (in a "report the scary muslims!" sort of way), and useless:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/nyregion/07see.html

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#108

Post by jolux »

morgante wrote: post #44
pjc50 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably villagevoice actually pay their writers?

Presumably installing free wifi kiosks actually costs money.

Yeah but is this something anybody asked for? The signal is always so great in NYC I never even want WiFi. This just seems like a largely pointless intrusion in service of selling more and more targeted ads.

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#109

Post by jolux »

ucaetano wrote: post #12
jolux wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what makes you think the author of that article has any control over the business model of the publication they're writing for? Are we not allowed to criticize ad tech online in ad supported venues? Because all of the most popular venues are ad supported. If you want a voice, you have to make compromises.

"If you want a voice, you have to make compromises." "If you want free wifi, you have to make compromises."

Yes and who wanted free WiFi exactly? Bill DeBlasio?

Re: Transforming NYC's Payphones into a 'Personalized Propaganda Engine'

#110

Post by morgante »

jolux wrote: post #108
morgante wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably installing free wifi kiosks actually costs money.

Yeah but is this something anybody asked for? The signal is always so great in NYC I never even want WiFi. This just seems like a largely pointless intrusion in service of selling more and more targeted ads.

Not everyone can afford (large) data plans. Look at some of the other comments in this thread for anecdotes of people enjoying the free access.

Also, your experience with service definitely doesn't match my own. There might always be a signal, but it's not always very fast...

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