-
Angel: Now I am very happy to have you all here
-
for the next talk on a really important topic.
-
And we all called last year for
-
more creative campaigns on all our issues,
-
that we talk about here at congress.
-
And so the Peng! Collective thought about a
-
really creative campaign that also got
-
a lot of attention in the last year.
-
And because they call for all
-
the intelligence officers to really exit
-
their careers and to find some other
-
more valuable service to our society,
-
I'm very honoured to introduce
-
Gloria Spindle to you,
-
who is a former Google nest employee,
-
—You might remember that great campaign—
-
and will now present the "Intelexit" to you.
-
Thank you! Your Applause!
-
applause
-
silence on the audio stream
-
Gloria: Hello!
-
And hello to all the live streaming people
out there as well.
-
Blubb blubb we can see you!
-
I hear they're a lot, maybe more than
what's in this room.
-
All the lights are dimming.
-
Okay, so! I don't know if anyone else
-
is as interested in the parts
-
of the Snowdon documents as I am,
-
which are the kind of little cultural titbits
that you find that give you a sense of
-
what it's like to be within the Secret Service.
-
I'm really kind of fascinated
by this particular gentleman.
-
The SIGINT Philosopher, who was a columnist
-
for the NSA on the internal news letter
-
and he is really quite creative
-
and he writes a lot of pieces
-
about the ethical quandaries of working
in the Secret Services.
-
And most of them end with just like:
-
"You should just like keep your head down
and you should just keep doing
-
what you're supposed to be doing,
-
'cause that's the best way to go ahead
and protect your county."
-
So this quote is really the kind of crux
-
of what the “Intelexit” Initiative
is founded on.
-
We recognise that people who are working
-
in the Secret Services, and I'm sure
-
some of you in the audience tonight
-
are working in the Secret Services
-
— pretty certain there are some disgruntled, maybe unhappy,
-
maybe ethically confused people
working in spy agencies,
-
maybe you're just a contractor
-
and you feel like: Oh I'm not so involved,
-
but I still feel like
I have blood on my hands.
-
And those are the people
that “Intelexit” is talking to.
-
very mild applause
-
That was like have a clap.
I mean come on, people!
-
applause
-
Thank you! Thank you! Jesus!
-
Don't be afraid of clapping!
-
So those are the people that “Intelexit”
is really talking to.
-
And we wanted to reach out to those people,
-
because there hasn't been a campaign yet
that has actually recognised,
-
that they are humans working,
-
thousands and thousands of people
-
going every day to their surveillance jobs,
operating drones
-
and even the people who are just
-
answering emails or you know pushing paper,
-
running the photocopy machine,
if they even have those.
-
— Who knows what they have in there —
-
Those People,
they are people who obviously
-
have ethical issues about working
-
in these systems
-
and feel responsible
for mass surveillance,
-
drone warfare and the slow, maybe fast,
-
degradation of democracy as we know it.
-
So, introducing “Intelexit”!
-
applause
-
So what Intelexit does is
-
it's an initiative, a civil initiative
-
grounded in the idea that we
need to find a way
-
to support people who want to leave
-
their jobs at the Secret Services
-
and we need to normalise
the idea of quitting.
-
applause
-
Because actually it's a very just and
-
sometimes honourable thing to do,
-
just to follow your ethics and
-
give up your job,
-
if you don't feel like you're contributing
to society in a good way.
-
applause
-
So that’s why Intelexit pitch.
-
Some of you might know:
-
I'm from Peng! as it was introduced earlier
-
and we are known for our hoaxes
-
and our media hacks and our culture jamming.
-
So intelexit is been a really, really
interesting campaign for us
-
and I’ll explain it as I go.
-
Because of course you see it's a bit of
-
performance and it's a bit of humour
-
but it's also very serious at the same time.
-
So, just to introduce Peng! to you,
-
for those who don't know.
-
Here we were... this was at re:publica
-
impersonating Google managers and
-
presenting some really creepy,
-
data collecting products.
-
A personal drone for daily life,
-
an app that monitors your well-being,
emotional well being,
-
and matches you with other people
who also need a hug
-
and creepy thing about that is most
-
of this distopian visions have now actually
-
come to light and are existing
-
in the real world today.
-
Actually people do use drones
to follow their children to school.
-
That's a real thing.
-
So and here we are impersonating the
leading party of Germany
-
and here we are in live television,
cracking an egg over the head of a presenter
-
of a very dodgy television program
-
and this was our program to self....
-
provide self help for trolls,
sexist trolls on twitter
-
and that was our self help coach.
-
We had a bot army which was analyse...
-
we had a language analysis
happening on twitter
-
and then we had an army of 160 bots
-
which were going out and enrolling trolls
-
on twitter into our self help program
-
and sending them nice inspirational videos
-
every day to help cure them.
-
applause
-
So as you can see we have a...
-
we utilise a range
of tactics and techniques
-
in what we call campaigning.
-
Some people call it art,
some people call it theatre,
-
some people call it a joke,
some call it entertainment,
-
but we see it as campaigning
and what we are constantly trying to do
-
is to shift the narrative.
We look at...
-
shift the narrative around
various social justice issues.
-
We look at issues we think that really need
-
a kind of different spin
happening in the media
-
and we take them and find a way to
reframe them and then we push them out
-
and hope that we get a lot of attention.
-
So we started looking at the issue of
-
surveillance and the Secret Services.
-
And, well, quickly one runs into the obstacle
-
of how do you talk about this.
-
Like we have this clichés of, you know,
-
the eye and, you know, Edward Snowden’s face
-
and we have these visuals that kind of
-
don't really mean anything anymore
-
and everyone really struggles
to actually understand
-
what the issue means and how do we talk about
-
the Secret Services,
when they're completely inaccessible to us?
-
So this a photo, for example, of the regulations
-
for taking photographs at Fort Meade.
-
You see, you’re not really allowed
to take photographs of the buildings.
-
So if you start with that as a kind of metaphor
-
for the inaccessibility of the Secret Services
-
to our general culture.
-
We don't even have visuals for them.
-
We've got like one photo of the NSA
that floats around the internet
-
and just gets repurposed and repurposed.
-
We can't access these people,
-
we can't access their structures,
we can't access their information.
-
Yes we have leaks now,
but how do we actually open it up more?
-
And that was the question,
we kept asking ourselves.
-
You've got this issue of intangibility
-
and then you also got the issue that
-
everything is so secret.
-
I mean even if a Christmas card
is sent internally in the NSA,
-
it's classified as top secret.
-
Then you've got technology which is so complicated
-
the general public can't understand it
-
and it's like all these acronyms and these
-
weird flow charts and bad design
-
and it's just really complicated.
-
And then of course there is fear.
-
And Fear is really crippling for activists
-
like ourselves, for civil society.
It is really difficult.
-
We don't want to broach this issue.
-
We don't want to step into it,
-
because it's scary,
because once you step into it,
-
it means that you are
a target, of course.
-
And also, funny enough, fear is also the way
-
the narrative is often shaped.
-
This is what we use,
to try and raise awareness
-
about surveillance.
We make people afraid.
-
We, you know, we talk about this invincible,
-
dark danger of surveillance
creeping in on us.
-
No one knows,
if they’re being watched or not.
-
And this, we think, is a narrative
that really needs to be shifted.
-
So we wanted to find a way to bring hope,
-
to bring a positive image to this narrative
-
and also to bring it down to humans
-
like not to talk about technology,
-
not to talk about these
dark and complex systems
-
but to talk about the people
-
and talk to the people who are upholding
these structures.
-
So this is what we came up with:
-
off-voice from video:
Right now, thousands of people work
-
in the shadows
of the intelligence community.
-
They don't ask questions.
-
They follow orders.
-
Keep their heads down,
-
do their work.
-
But what happens,
when you see something you can't forget?
-
And you realise that the system you are
-
part of is chipping away our democracy
-
every hour, every day.
-
You feel stuck,
overwhelmed.
-
Some people have already made
the decision to leave.
-
Others are thinking about it every day.
-
Intelexit helps people break free
from the intelligence community
-
and build a new life.
-
You expose yourself within the system,
-
you ultimately end up
being forced out of the system.
-
I remember confronting my immediate supervisor
-
the number 3 person: What are we doing?
-
We are violating the constitution!
-
– Many Secret Service employees are disillusioned.
-
– Why are we taking equipment
-
—it is traditionally for foreign facing,
outward facing—
-
and we're now instrumenting our networks
-
within the United States of America?
-
- If you're surveilling the population,
you're all on the same side.
-
Right? You want all the data and you want to
talk to people who have the most data.
-
So the NSA is a
nexus of surveillance for the world.
-
– It's what ever you can get away with.
-
That was part of the "game".
-
And whatever would serve
as the interest of "national security".
-
– When one is forced to act against one's
moral values, they can experience
-
extreme levels of
what we call cognitive dissonance.
-
– I was radioactive because
I'm questioning what are we doing.
-
Where do you then go?
Where does your life then …
-
Where do you recreate your life?
-
– What Intelexit does is help individuals
-
transition from the world on the inside
-
to the world on the outside.
-
– The more you can move
from the inside to the outside,
-
the better you'll integrate
into the real world.
-
– What is really great about Intelexit is
that it helps people to confront their fears.
-
– So take it from me:
-
If you're looking to get out,
try Intelexit!
-
– Be smart. Exit intelligence now.
-
roaring applause
-
I was really impressed
with Bruce Schneier there.
-
Bruce Schneier is just amazing without end.
-
I mean, who knew he had those talents?
-
Someone take him to acting school.
-
Like, it's amazing!
-
Okay, so then we made the video,
-
but of course we knew, we know
that the people that we are talking to
-
the spies, are some of the
most introverted people in the world.
-
And probably some of them the people
-
most stuck in a filter bubble in the world.
-
So we knew we had to kind of
take our preach further
-
and we had to go to where they are.
-
So you know we thought big and we pretended
-
we just forgot about that we didn't really
have a budget.
-
And so we just hired a van.
Because that's what you do.
-
So we just hired this van and drove around
-
Fort Meade and the NSA buildings,
-
tried as much as we could to get
as close as possible to them as we could.
-
applause
-
So this is outside Lockheed Martin
-
on a national business parkway.
-
The main area of all the NSA contractors
-
and they are really best friend with the NSA
and now they started making drones as well.
-
They’ve been supplying technology
to the military and the CIA and NSA forever.
-
So that’s us parked outside there,
giving them a strong moral punch
-
with the slogan.
-
And then we went to one of the most popular
-
cafes where NSA officers and contractors
like to go for lunch.
-
This Café JOE.
And we parked out there
-
during lunch time as well.
-
applause
-
And then of course, because you can't talk
-
about the Secret Services in one country
without talking about the other ones,
-
'cause they are all in bed with each other,
-
we of course had to go to the UK as well.
-
So here we are outside the "Donut" and
this is us trying …
-
okay, to be honest
laughing
-
that's trying to hand out flyer, brochures
to the people.
-
Like that was our plan.
-
We were gonna hand them out
to the employees on their way to work.
-
And they were just like imitates engine roar
they had, like, been briefed..
-
or I don't know.
They were just ignoring us.
-
And also maybe we didn't brief that guy
-
very well on what to dress
as an Intelexit ambassador.
-
And then we hit all the …
laughter in the audience
-
applause
-
This is outside the Dagger Complex in Germany.
-
One of the lesser known spots for the NSA
-
where they kind of have a central hub
-
for the signal's intelligence
gathering in Europe,
-
it's been written about in the Spiegel.
-
Very secret, very difficult
to get there as well.
-
And there we are, again,
from the other side.
-
And that is the antenna
from the Dagger Complex.
-
And then we also went to Wiesbaden,
-
which is the traditional
home of the US military in Germany
-
And the Clay Kaserne Building!
-
This is where supposedly, forthcoming
-
is going to be
one of the NSA’s biggest buildings
-
and operations in Europe,
also all very secret.
-
No one knows what's going on.
-
And then we went to the
US Embassy in Berlin.
-
And this for non German speakers just says:
-
"Enough with paranoia!"
-
This is why we had the like
dadaistic pineapple on there.
-
"We’re helping you to
get out of the Secret Services!"
-
And then we went to the
German Secret Services as well.
-
This is there new office block,
the Bundesnachrichtendienst
-
applause
-
and we also went
to the old offices, just in case.
-
laughter and applause
-
And then we went to …
—we did a lot in a week—
-
we went to the Verfassungsschutz which is
-
the domestic intelligence in Germany.
-
And this is located in Köln,
to remind them about
-
—so the Verfassungsschutz actually
stands for roughly translated in English is:
-
Protectors of the constitution—
-
and in order to remind them about
the constitution
-
we stuck the constitution on their wall there.
-
applause
-
And then there they are ripping it up.
-
This was like a dream we had
for a very long time
-
and finally we have realized it. laughing
-
And then we thought we take a bigger step...
-
music
-
laughter in the audience
-
music
-
applause in the audience
-
According to sources, Intelexit website
-
was blocked on the internal network
after that dropped.
-
So that was our week and that was Intelexit.
-
And I just want to
share a few learnings with you,
-
because it was a very
interesting campaign for us
-
and one of a kind, really.
-
So I think the first thing
on a very kind of
-
just basic level is that it is possible
-
to talk about this issue
without creating fear,
-
without making everyone, you know,
-
really worried about their information
-
and the data and their general feeling
of well-being.
-
There is a way of kind of shift the narrative
-
and look more at the outside and stop
-
holding the defensive.
-
Okay, then second thing is that
-
they are just as good in faking as we are.
-
This was the response from the GCHQ to a
-
journalist question for an article about
Intelexit, which is amazing,
-
because they basically just said
that they don’t do
-
anything unlawful and they actively encourage
-
staff to discuss any concerns that they have
-
inside, which we all know is not true.
-
And they also they really pride themselves
-
on the structures they have in place
to support this.
-
So I think this was
the biggest surprise for us.
-
Like we are always dealing in this kind of
-
projecting of either utopias or distopias
-
out into the world
-
and sometimes when you have a vision
-
and you project something out,
-
actually it kind of turns into reality.
-
And that's what happened.
-
You know, we played this line of
-
yes it's sort of a fake, but at the same time
-
we really mean what we’re putting out here.
-
Yes, we actually think there should be
an Intelexit Foundation created.
-
And there should be loads of money
-
flowing in for people who want to get out.
-
And there should be a civil way to exit.
-
applause
-
But, you know, what can we do?
-
We're just like a small art collective
-
in Berlin. You know.
-
We can make a big wave, but we're
-
quite limited on our resources.
-
But actually we got responses,
-
we got people coming to us
-
and that was a real surprise
-
and we realised we have
a lot of responsibility, too.
-
And so, this is the other learning that
-
there is no clear line
between insanity and reality.
-
So you kind of constantly, when you get
-
people contacting you this like,
-
of course you get people who think that
-
they are pursued by the CIA
-
or think that they used to work at the secret
service
-
and then there is people who talk to aliens
-
and these kinds of things
-
and then you get people with really legitimate
stories
-
and there is a kind of constant balance
-
and we really had to learn how to
-
assess these.
-
And luckily we had amazing support from
-
investigative journalists, particularly from
-
whistle-blower platforms who have experience
-
with this and help us.
-
But that's just part of the game.
-
Okay, I think this is our other learning,
-
that we realised, that
-
at the end of this week,
-
there really is a need for this.
-
There is a need to respond to kind of
-
discourse that's out there
-
and create a new one
-
and then there is also really a need to
-
provide this kind of support and
-
actually reach out to people who are
-
trapped in these structures and want to get
out.
-
So we've been working really hard and trying
-
to build up networks of support with people
-
who have legal skills,
-
who have psychological training
-
and who can also help, if people want to
-
get out and leak or blow the whistle,
-
who can help with that.
-
So we kind of at the moment when people come
-
we are trying to direct them to the right
resources.
-
Because of cause we're not
-
a whistle blowing platform.
-
And we are not a legal organisation,
-
so we can't provide a lot of things,
-
but we have good networks and we can try
-
and connect people with them.
-
So what's coming next?
-
We are trying to build up our infrastructure
-
so that people can actually have a very secure
way
-
to contact us.
-
We are building up this network of support
-
and we want to create a list of future
-
employers for people who actually do leave
-
the secret services so that they can find
-
places to get jobs afterwards.
-
And we want to continue doing more
-
outreach and more campaigning on this issue
-
and I think that that is our main goal.
-
applause
-
That's a safe within a safe,
-
which is now part of our kind of secure
-
infrastructure in our offices,
-
thanks to the support of very experienced
-
and knowledgeable expert people
-
who can help us set up the kind of
-
the best way for people to kind of
-
to enter the risk assessment to enter the
-
best means of communicating with us.
-
And then on our outreach plans
-
we really want to create a way to talk to
-
people who're working in the secret services
-
for an every day person in this audience
-
or on the stage just to call up the NSA
-
or the BND or the GCHQ and get through
-
to someone who is sitting in their office
-
on their phone and have a conversation
-
with them like callcenter-style.
-
You know like: How are you doing today?
-
Can we talk about your job?
-
How do you feel about working at the
-
secret services?
-
We want to create an anonymous reaching
-
system for someone to call completely
-
anonymously to a set of numbers
-
which we can't reveal the source of
-
and to reach out to these people.
-
So of course we need support and help.
-
And these are all the things you can help
us with.
-
If you got skills, we need all kinds of skills,
-
we need skills to build up this call center
-
operation of ours, so that people can actually
-
anonymously call and we can have something
-
that is very exciting and we can premier at
-
events.
-
So that you can actually have
-
call center operations on stage calling up
-
doing it live.
-
And then we also need people who will
-
translate our materials.
-
We would like to get them into other
-
languages, we only have English and German
atm.
-
And we would like to kind of reach out more
-
internationally.
-
And if you've got connections,
-
well that's also always good,
-
if you've got people who are lawyers,
-
who have experience working with people
-
who are either in trauma or
-
people who have been in the secret service
-
for example.
-
Legal skills, psychological skills,
-
journalists - we need all those kinds of
-
connections in different jurisdictions.
-
We are pretty well set up in Berlin and
-
in Germany, but we really need help
-
in the UK and the US as well for now.
-
And then if you've got ideas for outreach
-
for new actions we are also really open
-
to hearing those.
-
We've got the call center idea at the moment.
-
Calling up the spies.
-
We want new ideas and if you know people
-
who are working there just have that
-
conversation with them.
-
Just start a conversation about you know,
-
ethics of the workplace.
-
applause
-
And now... the big question...
-
And I even do that to say how important it
is.
-
If you like Peng!'s work we are not ashamed
-
any more. We were ashamed for a long time
-
to ask for money,
-
but we're not ashamed any more.
-
We live of idealism alone, people,
-
and we need help to keep our actions going!
-
This year I think we did 6 actions or something
-
really large campaigns and we need help to
-
kind of support our infrastructure,
-
to support our staff,
-
to support our projects more than anything,
-
so that we can keep on doing what we are doing.
-
So we've developed a way for you to become
-
a monkey donator which I highly recommend
-
great feelings of positivity and love will
-
travel with you for many years after
-
you have done this.
-
Mother Theresa said:
-
If you can't feed a hundred penguins,
-
then just feed one."
-
So, feed one of us!
-
Even if it's just like the pinky finger of
-
one of us and sign up for a year to
-
keep seeing great action coming out
-
from Peng!
-
And that's me.
-
And we've got one more thing,
-
surprise!
Where are you? Hello!
-
So we have one other way to donate,
-
which is that you can buy one of the
-
awesome Intelexit T-shirts,
-
which Paul is gonna come here and model
-
for us quickly.
-
laughing and applause
-
And there's a run for your life!
-
That's the kind of lame one...
-
but these ones are cool!
-
Thank you!
-
Are we meeting afterwards?
-
I think we're going to have...
-
We don't have time for questions
-
and answers now.
-
But we really want to get feedback
-
from people.
-
I think there is an IRC Chat or Radio happening,
-
but if people want to come we're going
-
to meet.
-
Where are we meeting?
-
In front!
-
laughing
-
Of this huge hall.
-
Can someone give me a location,
-
I only got here today...
-
Can you give us a location?
-
Herald: Okay, So it's sensible to meet
-
at the tea tent I suppose.
-
Gloria: Tea tent!
-
In 15 minutes!
-
Herald: In front of hall 2, there is a big
tea tent,
-
where you get tea, where you also
-
meet many other people who are working
-
in this direction therefore, right?
-
Gloria: Yes!
-
Herald: And I have one question still,
-
because you told we can support on the Internet
-
is there also a way to donate anonymously?
-
Gloria: Well, you can donate with bitcoin
-
or you can just give us cash.
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Herald: Everybody, big piles of cash,
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bring them here!
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Gloria: Not saying no to cash...
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Herald: Thank you, Gloria!
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Gloria: Ah, they got a bag!
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Herald: And there is a bag for cash!
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laughing
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Gloria: You can put it in very anonymously
here.
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laughing
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Herald: Bring your blocking for your face
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if you really want to be anonymous.
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Thank you, Gloria!
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Everybody who wants to come,
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please go to the tea tent!
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applause
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music
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