ica 2016: resisting surveillance: counter conduct of the incarcerated
TRANSCRIPT
RESISTING SURVEILLANCE COUNTER CONDUCT OF THE
INCARCERATEDJessa Lingel + Aram Sinnreich | June 2016
Incodification“The term “incarceration” effectively describes not only the direct physical experience of imprisonment but also the array of social conditions that derive from this experience … For groups of people who are continually held in suspicion by the police, such as young men of color, incarceration encompasses not only jail time and prison sentences, but an entire set of relationships between oppressed people and the legal system that extends far beyond prison walls. We aim to make an analogous argument for mass surveillance by introducing the term ‘incodification.’”
-Lingel, J., & Sinnreich, A. (2016). Incoded counter-conduct:
What the incarcerated can teach usabout resisting mass surveillance.
First Monday, 21 (5).
You are here Incarceration
You are hereIncodification
Incodification matters
Askesis and inscrutability
Askesis – “An exercise of self upon self by which one tries to work out, to transform one’s self and to attain a certain mode of being.” (Foucault)
Inscrutability – “Politics revolves around what is seen and what can be said about it, around who has the ability to see and the talent to speak.” (Rancière)
Hunger strikes and askesis
Media refusal as counter conduct
Politics of legibility
Alternative communication networks1. Argot Network Society
Equivalents • 1337• Geek-speak• TXTing language• LOLcats/dogespeak• Memetic slang
Alternative communication networks2. Tap Codes Network Society
Equivalent • Mesh networks
Alternative communication networks3. Textual Encryption Network Society
Equivalents • Digital Encryption
Alternative communication networks4. Smuggling
Network Society Equivalents • VPNs• Proxy servers• Steganography
Aesthetics of incodified counter-conduct
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