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Art that lets you talk back to NSA spies

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    A year ago, we were invited
    by the Swiss embassy in Berlin
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    to present our art projects.
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    We are used to invitations,
    but this invitation really thrilled us.
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    The Swiss embassy in Berlin is special.
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    It is the only old building
    in the government district
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    that was not destroyed
    during the Second World War,
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    and it sits right next
    to the Federal Chancellery.
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    No one is closer to Chancellor Merkel
    than the Swiss diplomats.
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    (Laughter)
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    The government district in Berlin
    also contains the Reichstag --
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    Germany's parliament --
    and the Brandenburg Gate,
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    and right next to the gate
    there are other embassies,
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    in particular the U.S.
    and the British embassy.
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    Although Germany
    is an advanced democracy,
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    citizens are limited
    in their constitutional rights
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    in its government district.
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    The right of assembly and the right
    to demonstrate are restricted there.
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    And this is interesting
    from an artistic point of view.
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    The opportunities to exercise
    participation and to express oneself
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    are always bound to a certain order
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    and always subject
    to a specific regulation.
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    With an awareness
    of the dependencies of these regulations,
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    we can gain a new perspective.
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    The given terms and conditions
    shape our perception, our actions,
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    and our lives.
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    And this is crucial in another context.
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    Over the last couple of years,
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    we learned that from the roofs
    of the U.S. and the British embassy,
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    the secret services have been listening
    to the entire district,
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    including the mobile phone
    of Angela Merkel.
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    The antennas of the British GCHQ
    are hidden in the white cylindrical ??.
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    By the listening post of the American NSA
    is covered by radio transparent screens.
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    But how to address these hidden
    and disguised forces?
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    With my colleague Christoph Wachter,
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    we accepted the invitation
    of the Swiss embassy,
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    and we used this opportunity
    to exploit the specific situation.
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    If people are spying on us,
    it stands to reason
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    that they have to listen
    to what we are saying.
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    (Laughter)
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    On the roof of the Swiss embassy,
    we installed a series of antennas.
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    They weren't as sophisticated as those
    used by the Americans and the British.
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    They were makeshift ????? antennas,
    not camouflaged but totally obvious
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    and visible.
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    The Academy of Arts joined the project,
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    and so we built another large antenna
    on their rooftop
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    exactly between the listening posts
    of the NSA and the GCHQ.
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    (Laughter)
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    Never have we been observed in such detail
    while building an art installation.
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    A helicopter circled over our heads
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    with a camera registering
    each and every move we made,
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    and on the roof of the U.S. embassy,
    security officers patrolled.
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    Although the government district
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    is governed by a strict police order,
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    there are no specific laws
    relating to digital communication.
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    Our installation
    was therefore perfectly legal,
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    and the Swiss Ambassador
    informed Chancellor Merkel about it.
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    We named the project
    "Can You Hear Me?"
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    (Laughter)
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    The antennas created an open
    and free wifi communication network
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    in which anyone who wanted to
    would be able to participate
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    using any wifi-enabled device
    without any hindrance,
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    and be able to send messages
    to those listening
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    on the frequencies
    that were being intercepted.
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    Text messages, voice chat, file sharing:
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    anything could be sent anonymously.
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    And people did communicate.
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    Over 15,000 messages were sent.
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    Here are some examples.
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    "Hello world, hello Berlin,
    hello NSA, hello GCHQ."
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    "NSA Agents, Do the Right Thing!
    Blow the whistle!"
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    "This is the NSA. In God we trust.
    All others we track!!!!!"
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    (Laughter)
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    "#@nonymous is watching #NSA #GCHQ -
    we are part of our organizations.
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    #expect us. We will #shutdown"
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    "This is the NSA's Achilles heel.
    Open Networks."
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    "Agents, what twisted story of yourself
    will you tell your grandchildren?"
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    "@NSA My neighbors are noisy.
    Please send a drone strike."
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    (Laughter)
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    "Make Love, Not cyberwar."
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    We invited the embassies
    and the government departments
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    to participate in the open network too,
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    and to our surprise, they did.
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    Files appeared on the network,
    including classified documents
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    leaked from the parliamentary
    investigation commission,
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    which highlights that the free exchange
    and discussion of vital information
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    is starting to become difficult,
    even for members of a parliament.
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    We also organized guided tours
    to experience and sound out
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    the power constellations on site.
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    The tours visited the restricted zones
    around the embassies,
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    and we discussed the potential
    and the highlights of communication.
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    If we become aware of the constellation,
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    the terms and conditions of communication,
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    it not only broadens our horizon,
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    it allows us to look behind
    the regulations that limit our worldview,
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    our specific, social, political,
    or aesthetic conventions.
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    Let's look at an actual example.
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    The fate of people living
    in the makeshift settlements
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    on the outskirts of Paris
    is hidden and faded from view.
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    It's a vicious circle.
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    It's not poverty, not racism,
    not exclusion that are new.
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    What is new is how
    these realities are hidden
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    and how people are made invisible
    in an age of actually global
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    and overwhelming
    communication and exchange.
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    Such makeshift settlements
    are considered illegal,
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    and therefore those living in them
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    don't have a chance
    of making their voices heard.
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    On the contrary, every time they appear,
    every time they risk becoming visible,
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    merely gives grounds
    for further persecution,
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    expulsion, and suppression.
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    What interested us is how we could
    come to know this hidden side.
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    We were searching for an interface,
    and we found one.
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    It's not a digital interface,
    but a physical one: it's a hotel.
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    We named the project Hotel Gelem.
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    Together with Roma families,
    we created several Hotel Gelems in Europe,
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    for example in Freiburg in Germany,
    in Montreuil near Paris,
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    and also in the Balkans.
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    These are real hotels.
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    People can stay there.
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    But they aren't a commercial enterprise.
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    They are a symbol.
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    You can go online
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    and ask for a personal invitation
    to come and live for a few days
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    in the Hotel Gelem, in their homes.
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    eating, working, and living
    with the Roma families.
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    Here, the Roma families
    are not the travelers,
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    the visitors are.
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    Here, the Roma families
    are not a minority,
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    the visitors are.
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    The point is not to make judgments
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    but rather to find out about the context
    that determines these disparate
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    and seemingly insurmountable
    contradictions.
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    In the world of globalization,
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    the continents are drifting
    closer to each other.
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    Cultures, goods, and people
    are in permanent exchange,
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    but at the same time, the gap
    between the world of the privileged
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    and the world of the excluded is growing.
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    We were recently in Australia.
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    For us, it was no problem
    to enter the country.
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    We have European passports,
    visas, and air tickets.
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    But asylum seekers who arrive
    by boat in Australia
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    are deported or taken to prison.
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    The interception of the boats
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    and the disappearance of the people
    into the detention system
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    are veiled by the Australian authorities.
Title:
Art that lets you talk back to NSA spies
Speaker:
Mathias Jud
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
12:56
  • 10:08 Isn't it "weather forecast" instead of "medical cost"?

  • This transcript was updated on 9/27.

    In the subtitle beginning at 10:05, "medical costs" was changed to "weather forecasts."

English subtitles

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