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\begin{document}
\title{Decontamination, Surveillance and Ready Made Martial Law in the
       Anthrax Age
}

\author{
S. Mann, U. of Toronto\\ {\footnotesize mann@eecg.toronto.edu}
\and
M. B\"{o}hlen, SUNY Buffalo\\ {\footnotesize mrbohlen@acsu.buffalo.edu}
\and
S. Diamond, Banff Centre\\ {\footnotesize sara\_diamond@banffcentre.ca}
}
\date{}
\maketitle
\thispagestyle{empty}
\begin{abstract}
We propose a panel discussion on surveillance versus sousveillance and 
critiques of both of these opposing viewpoints by artists, scientists, 
theoreticians and inventors in the wake of global terrorism, media 
frenzy and government witch-hunting. We propose elucidating both the 
reality of terror as well as the fabrication of its reality and all 
technologies that assist these processes. We will present strategies 
and preliminary responses to current surveillance issues and proposals, 
especially as they relate to surveillance in the Anthrax Age (mass 
decontamination, large-scale information collection, population 
control, quarantine, triage biometrics and mandatory medicinal control).
The following submission reflects three reactions to this situation.
\end{abstract}

\section{Background: Decontamination and Martial Law in the Anthrax
         Age\protect\footnote{These issues were previously explored
                              by S. Mann.  (Exhibit Curated by Kathleen
                              Pirrie Adams, http://www.wearcam.org/dusting/tpw/
                              with help of James Fung, Sharon and Corey
                              Manders, Felix Tang, Betty Lo, Chris Aimone,
                              and Thomas Hirmer.)
                             }
        }

The threat of terrorism has made Martial Law seem acceptable to many.
Thus in the event of a suspected release of a nuclear, chemical, or
biological agent,
the area, city, state, or the like, of the release, may be cordoned off
to prevent victims, patients, suspects, or others who may be
potentially contaminated from leaving the scene of the release
without first undergoing decontamination.

Additionally, new kinds of decon facilities are being researched,
and invented, as described in Canadian Patent 2303611
(anthrax-ready mailroom exhibit at Gallery TPW,
July 2001, http://wearcam.org/bradecon.htm).
Methods of statewide emergency evacuation by the armed forces are
also well known in the prior art.
For example, the Model Emergency Health Powers Act allows for entire
cities to be cordoned off, in the event of a suspected possibility of a
smallpox outbreak, or the like.

From fire extinguishers to riot extinguishers (big cans of pepper spray),
the need for crowd control has been marketed as a new social order.
And with fire hoses for crowd control the
need for the fireman has changed from controlling fire to controlling people.
Is he the firefighter cum people fighter?
Or has his desire to control fire merely evolved into a desire to
control people?
[S. Freud, The acquisition of power over fire.,
 Int. J. Psychoanal., 13: 405-410.]
\begin{quote}
   hose people down both to decontaminate them and to discourage them
   from leaving the area. ... victims would be given Tyvek suits, spare
   clothing, or even garbage bags to wear... dozens of people could be
   herded through decontamination lines
   simultaneously.\protect\footnote{See summary of government and industry
   documents on decon: http://wearcam.org/decon\_summary.htm}
\end{quote}
   
And with that desire for dominance over people, comes the need for
surveillance, to document the stripping and scrubbing of his subjects:
\begin{quote}
   The identification of contaminated victims and their personal
   effects... Victims are also videotaped as they proceed through the
   decontamination line.$^2$
\end{quote}

This being done in a mechanized and very efficient way:
\begin{quote}
   The disinfection/decontamination process is akin to ``putting humans
   through a car wash" after first destroying their garments. Los Angeles
   World Airports have put in place a contingency plan to disinfect up to
   10,000 persons who might have been exposed to biological or chemical
   substances.$^2$
\end{quote}

Decontamination centers at secret locations, with the ability to
run people through a central intake facility, are also known in the art:
\begin{quote}
   The city has taken steps to establish decontamination centers at
   various undisclosed locations, he said. ``The equipment is in place.
   ... ``We have to be able to shut down the hospital, filter people
   through a central intake where we can shower and wash them down,"$^2$
\end{quote}

Intelligence-gathering systems, means of controlling large numbers of
people, etc., can also be applied to the management of a large-scale
involuntary labour force.  Means and apparatus for
compelling civilians to perform mandatory
work is well known in the art:
\begin{quote}
          Other outstanding legal questions concern the ability to isolate,
          quarantine, or detain groups or individuals; the ability to
          mandate treatment or mandate work; restrictions on travel and
          trade; the authority to seize community or private property such
          as hospitals, utilities, medicines, or vehicles; or the ability to
          compel production of certain
          goods\footnote{Testimony of Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. Subcommittee 
                         on National Security, Veterans Affairs And
                         International Relations Committee on Government
                         Reform July 23, 2001         
                        }.
\end{quote}

We now live in an era in which one spilled salt shaker can bring about 
Martial Law and strip hundreds of citizens of their civil rights, 
leaving us stripped naked, bleached, and bagged. The 
disinfection/decontamination process is akin to "putting humans through 
a car wash" after first destroying their garments. Los Angeles World 
Airports have put in place a contingency plan to disinfect up to 10,000 
persons who might have been exposed to biological or chemical 
substances. Since a suspected terrorist incident constitutes a crime 
scene, all clothing removed from victims will be evidence. This means 
the clothing needs to be bagged, tagged for later victim identification 
(like triage tags) and set aside in a secure location until the Federal 
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) determines its disposition.

Here are some detailed examples of strategies each of the panelists 
will use in addressing the Anthrax Age theme:

\section{Wearable Computing as a framework for Reflectionist Intervention
         (S. Mann)\protect\footnote{supported in part by the Canada Council for the
                            Arts, with James Fung, Sharon and Corey Manders,
                            Felix Tang, Betty Lo, Chris Aimone, Thomas Hirmer,
                            Angela Garabet, Adwait Kulkarni, and Samir Parikh}
         }

Reflectionism is a memesis/nemesis that holds a mirror up to society 
through the creation of a symmetry built from poetic justice.  From the 
cyborg manifestations that mirror nature's own "human elements" to the 
conspicuously concealed wearable security cameras 
(http://existech.com/domewear/) worn by customers shopping in large 
department store complexes, Reflectionist art(ifacts), performances, 
and street theatre (http://wearcam.org/adwear/) will be presented in 
the context of post-anthrax societal values.

A series of performances have been constructed to explore issues of
sousveillance\footnote{``Sousveillance'' (inverse surveillance,
                       from the French word ``sous'', meaning below,
                       and ``veiller'', meaning to watch) is an attempt to
                       balance the one-sided totalitarian nature of
                       organizational surveillance.
                      }
in the surveillance age.

Computational clothing is perhaps the anti-thesis of mass decontamination
(stripdown), and it is the computational clothing that makes the cyborg,
as an element if individual performance space.

In one performance, text, graphics, and other
content containing images from the hidden camera are integrated
on-the-fly and rendered to the data projector for the audience.
Provocative text messages such as ``ADVERTISING IS THEFT of solitude''
are mixed with video from the concealed night vision camera system
(See Fig~\ref{fig:perftwo}.).
%\begin{figure*}
%    \figlrab{3.45in}{adwear/advertising_is_theft510gpu.eps,width=2.25in}
%            {2.95in}{adwear/advertising_is_theft_closeup497gpu.eps,width=4in}
%    \caption{(a) The wearable apparatus contains a 1 GHz P3 CPU,
\begin{figure}
     \figc{adwear/advertising_is_theft510gpu.eps,width=3in}
     \caption{The wearable apparatus contains a 1 GHz P3 CPU,
                 rendering engine, high-power mercury vapour arc lamp
                 data projector, within a black flame-retardant Nomex (TM)
                 uniform custom tailored to fit the wearer.
                 Here a person can see his own image together with other
                 computer generated material.
}
%             (b) Close-up view showing the output of the high intensity
%                 data projection system.
%            }
    \label{fig:perftwo}
%\end{figure*}
\end{figure}

Challenging the notion of surveillance, along with role reversal
(surveillance versus sousveillance), gives rise to a reversal of
performer versus audience. Passers-by became street performers and
artists on the wearable stage that reflects their images to them. The
stage itself, ordinarily thought of as a piece of
architecture, has become a piece of clothing. Of course, the ability
to play with or walk away from the situation and not participate
mitigates the invasiveness of the sur/sous/coveillance.

\section{Biometrics, Identity Validation, Data Flavoring and
         The Keeper of Keys (M. B\"{o}hlen)}

Computing systems are cultural artifacts. They are conceived in and
based on very strict and limited notions of what reality is and how to
represent it. Devising systems that practically address the
limitations and skewed assumptions built into computing systems and
their practical applications, in particular where socially sensitive,
biometric data is collected, managed and interpreted, is a form of
cultural engagement.

With advances in imaging technologies and classification techniques,
biometrics and bioinformatics promises accurate and universal
identification. Uniqueness of record is the key upon which biometric
based identification and verification are built. The lure of the
perfect solution by flawless identification can phase shift the
consequences of potential error into insignificance or collateral
social damage. But flawless technologies do not exist. Even the best
and most elaborate biometric systems work with margins of
error. Moreover, the convenience of electronic mass storage makes no
distinction between a casually collected data entry and a permanent
record. Who owns a routinely collected finger scan whose electronic
permanence can exceed the time frame of its human originator? Why is
the iris scan, used to ensure one's immediate credentials, silently
stored beyond its use with no expiration date? And finally: Which
forms of beauty can be construed of this unclaimed data?

Technologies that become prevalent create in the wake of their
realization new ideas and values. This process is ooccupied by issues
of power and politics, usually to the exclusion of any other topic. It
need not be so. Image processing, for example, can be used to identify
suspects captured on video. However, image processing algorithms not
linked to a database or cross-referenced for suspect search have a
neutral flavor. Removing external linkage from surveillance
technologies by feeding all data in closed loop form back into the
system changes obtrusive surveillance to observation, to a keen and
attentive gaze. In a similar way, one can reclaim the territory of
biometric validation and identification for non utilitarian temporary
poetic purposes.


\subsection{The Keeper of Keys}

The Keeper of Keys (KK) is an access granting machine and data
management system that utilizes finger scanning and pattern matching
techniques to access a person's presumed right to enter a restricted site
\footnote{This work is being realized with J.T. Rinker, Ph.D. student in
          the Music Department, SUNY Buffalo.}
Of all biometric validation techniques, finger print
classification is the most established and entrenched in law
enforcement through out the world. New imaging technologies replace
the fingerprint with the digital finger scan, and use computational
similarity measures to match one scan to another.  KK makes use of
this technical knowledge and differs in its interpretation of it. KK
has a defined policy of data acquisition and retention, a particular
conception of biometric based uniqueness and works within the laws of
data classification within system inherent limitations.

KK has a vending machine style presence (Fig.~\ref{fig:kk}).
\begin{figure}
  \figc{marc_bohlenKeeper3.eps,width=3in}
  \caption{Schematic of KK}
  \label{fig:kk}
\end{figure}
Appearing as a large box, a
single large screen is display and interface. An industry grade
commercial finger scanner\footnote{This project is supported in part by
                                   Ethentica Corp.}
is integrated into the front, between a set
of speakers to the left and right. A computer, a data projector and a
set of mirrors redirecting the data are housed within the apparatus.

KK is a doubled system. It operates in different modes at different
times. During normal business hours KK acts as a functional and
reliable gatekeeper to an area of restricted access. It employs the
standard biometric validation scheme of data acquisition, feature
extraction, feature comparison and classification. The scanner is a
capacitive imaging device that can capture a high-resolution image of
a fingerprint from a hand desiring access to a given site. The
minutiae points, essential features traditionally understood to
uniquely characterize each and every finger, are extracted from the
image. The minutiae template is then compared with those of reference
finger scans previously accepted by KK.

Based on the result from the minutiae feature matching algorithm,
access is granted or denied. Informed of the theoretical possibility
of erroneous classification, the system varies the probabilistic
strictness of its matching criteria and makes this known to the
onlooker. KK can celebrate its data and hint to the user that a
different data management philosophy can exist. To the utilitarian
daytime construction of KK, false rejects are as undesirable as false
accepts.  As in all standard biometric validation procedures, reducing
the possibility of false rejects increases the chance of false accepts
(and vice versa). Potential instances of either category are placed in
a temporary repository.

After hours, KK manages its temporary record sets per default
according to different rules. It gives the collected data autonomy and
group identities based on the results collected throughout the day. At
night, KK massages the ambiguous potential of the day's scan work. One
can think of this as a kind of artificial flavoring for data, data
flavoring. Diligent and meaningful enhancements can make insipid raw
data interesting. This is a return value the system gives to those who
engage it. Images of poor quality scans can slide across the screen in
search of like categories. Images of rejected entries are boxed into
corners and asked to expire, but may refuse to do so.  Over time, the
rejects visually evaporate or fossilize into the domain of deleted
data. There is no design for storing image material for over one day.
Data misuse is prevented on the design level.

At times, the finger scans are passed to the SightSinger. This module
composes from rejected finger scans audio artifacts. The algorithm
designed to perform this operation extracts salient image points from
the scans and maps this information to audible frequencies in the time
domain according to the KK's compositional preferences. The
fingerprints thus become characteristic audio artifacts.

KK is a functional machine designed to re-imagine, beyond the confines
of security and repression, notions of machinic identity control and
biometric validation. It is a granter of access, a transformer,
enhancer and a destruction mechanism for sensitive data for the age of
large-scale information collection and population control, expanding
the notion of what computing systems can be used for.


\section{Intimate Technologies and the War Zone (S. Diamond)}
AGENT ORANGE/ORANGE AGENCY\\
{\bf The Fashion of Statelessness, War and Responsibility in the Mobile Era}
%, Artistic Director, Media and Visual Arts,
%The Banff Centre, Canada
%CodeZebra Inc. 

President Bush, please tell me, ``Is Orange the Colour of EVIL?'' How do
we understand the colour orange, a secondary colour, and hence a
result of effects, in relation to the problem of agency, of visibility
and invisibility, of belonging and not belonging?  How can we connect
wearable technologies, the mobility of fashion as style, the desire to
subtly wear communications on our sleeve or on our bodies with an era
of localized warfare, globalization and the reordering of identities?
The technologies of the self are core to war.

Can you shake the images of ElQueda prisoners held in the hot cages of
Guantanamo by the US military?  Stripped of cultural representations,
dressed in vibrant neon orange, these men both live out and symbolize
the loss of state protection, a spiral into the virtuality of the
global political vortex. They are not the only prisoners who wear
orange.  In Canada, you can see the mostly Aboriginal prison
population toiling at the side of the highway in work gangs, wearing
flame coloured orange coveralls.  They too were systematically
stripped of cultural expression that includes spiritual as well as
linguistic identity, ideology and ethics.  They too were stripped of
nation status.  They have resisted.  Is the era of ubiquity a return
to feudalism, for some?  (See Jamie King, MUTE's articles on
statelessness).

What does it mean that fundamental rights that date back to the
bourgeois revolution are suspended?

A friend of mine, Shawn Singer, enters the office where I am
writing. He is a beautiful man; a traditional dancer and now a fashion
designer whose cultural background is Blackfoot and African-Canadian.
He is wearing an orange shirt with a bead collar that he has created.
We talk about orange.  He endorses its amplifying effect, the sense of
presence, the absolute quality of the colour even if it is a mix of
yellow and red.  Locate expressiveness against Orange, the UK
communications company that patented a colour. Orange. Global
trademark of ubiquity.  http://www.orange.co.uk/register/register.html

Orange has its history as a colour of modern war.  Vietnam was a war
that Americans needed to make invisible once it had ended.  Agent
Orange, actual chemical warfare, impeded this; these weapons of mass
destruction indicated the vulnerability of American troops.  Remember
VietNam?  Remember Agent Orange? http://www.soft-vision.net/ao\_vets/

Before 9/11, I described an impending and now recent event at The
Banff Centre, Intimate Technologies, Dangerous Zones:

Intimate Technologies/Dangerous Zones focuses on the developing
invisibility and ubiquity of technology in our lives, and their
aesthetic and ethical corollaries. Mobile and wireless technologies
seem to be overtaking laptop and desktop, and computer creators are
now designing wearable, personal technologies that adapt to a variety
of personalities and uses, effectively creating new, virtual, social
spaces. Young people have made great use of mobile phones, creating
powerful alternate communities and languages. Cheap, mobile technology
seems to be a model for sustaining the peer-to-peer revolution. The
immaterial aura of signal and bandwidth influences the very fabric of
our beings, moving us into a realm of constant connectivity-a
dangerous, seductive zone-where the frontier between liberty and
control, mobility and invasiveness, utility and disjunction, comfort
and menace is blurred and leaking. We will look at wireless mediation
in all areas of human life, working towards anthropology of usage. We
will strive to understand how intimate technologies transform our
selves and the way we tell stories, relate, play and work, and how to
create positive applications and experiences for these ubiquitous
networks and technologies.

Design practices and outcomes are alarmingly gendered, despite the
work of researchers such as Sidney Fels, who looks at embodied and
unencumbered technologies of intimacy.  If men play at cyborg, as
engineers, designer, military machinists, then women play at the
utilities of flirtation and seduction, the intimacy of emotions in the
context of wearable designs.  -


One thread returns to notions of the individual, their ownership of
space and notions of statehood and identity.  Privacy is a construct
that hangs in part on the achievements and constraints of the social
transformations and resulting bourgeois revolutions of the 17th and
18th centuries.  It stands hand in hand with the establishment and
strengthening of the nation state. Ideas about citizenship, belonging
and related rights are integral to not only identity, but the design
of identity, in architecture, As Gilles Lanes has pointed out, the
Reformation, with its religious dissent, required an architecture of
privacy. Labour, fashion and art historians have chronicled the
organization of the bourgeois family and a division of labour that
included domestic labour.  Clothing becomes a representation of
mobility, privacy, individuation and finally, access to citizenship.

My discussion will centre on ways that intimate technologies,
especially those within wearable design play against, emulate and
resonate against the absolut orange of the technologies of war
fashion.

\end{document}

