EFF Unveils Virtual Reality Tool To Help People Spot Surveillance Devices in Their Communities

["DAVID FARBER" <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: EFF Press <press () eff org>
> Date: November 6, 2018 3:48:51 JST
> To: dfarber () me com
> Subject: EFF Unveils Virtual Reality Tool To Help People Spot Surveillance Devices in Their Communities
> Reply-To: EFF Press <press () eff org>
>
>
> This is a friendly message from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
>               
>              
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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2018
> Contact:
> Dave Maass
> Senior Investigative Researcher
> dm () eff org
> +1 415-436-9333 x151
>
> EFF Unveils Virtual Reality Tool To Help People Spot Surveillance Devices in Their Communities
> Law Enforcement’s Deployment of High-Tech Spying Tools On the Rise
>
> SAN FRANCISCO—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched a virtual reality (VR) experience on its website 
> today that teaches people how to spot and understand the surveillance technologies police are increasingly using to 
> spy on communities.
>
> “We are living in an age of surveillance, where hard-to-spot cameras capture our faces and our license plates, drones 
> in the sky videotape our streets, and police carry mobile biometric devices to scan people’s fingerprints,” said EFF 
> Senior Investigative Researcher Dave Maass. “We made our ‘Spot the Surveillance’ VR tool to help people recognize 
> these spying technologies around them and understand what their capabilities are."
>
> Spot the Surveillance, which works best with a VR headset but will also work on standard browsers, places users in a 
> 360-degree street scene in San Francisco. In the scene, a young resident is in an encounter with police. Users are 
> challenged to identify surveillance tools by looking around the scene. The experience takes approximately 10 minutes 
> to complete.
>
> The surveillance technologies featured in the scene include a body-worn camera, automated license plate readers, a 
> drone, a mobile biometric device, and pan-tilt-zoom cameras. The project draws from years of research gathered by EFF 
> in its Street-Level Surveillance project, which shines a light on how police use, and abuse, technology to spy on 
> communities.
>
> Created by EFF’s engineering and design team, the Stop the Surveillance VR experience can be found at 
> https://eff.org/spot-vr.
>
> “One of our goals at EFF is to experiment with how emerging online technologies can help bring about awareness and 
> change,” said EFF Web Developer Laura Schatzkin, who coded the project. “The issue of ubiquitous police surveillance 
> was a perfect match for virtual reality. We hope that after being immersed in this digital experience users will 
> acquire a new perspective on privacy that will stay with them when they remove the headset and go out into the real 
> world.”
>
> The current version is now being made publicly available for user testing, as part of the Aaron Swartz Day and 
> International Hackathon festivities. EFF will be conducting live demonstrations of the project at the event on Nov. 
> 10-11 at the Internet Archive in San Francisco. Swartz, the brilliant activist and Internet pioneer, was facing a 
> myriad of federal charges for downloading scientific journals when he took his own life in 2013.
>
> EFF seeks user feedback and bug reports, which will be incorporated into an updated version scheduled for release in 
> Spring 2019. The VR project was supported during its development through the XRstudio residency program at Mozilla. 
> The project was also made possible with the support of a 2018 Journalism 360 Challenge grant. Journalism 360 is a 
> global network of storytellers accelerating the understanding and production of immersive journalism. Its founding 
> partners are the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Google News Initiative, and the Online News Association.
>
> For access to the VR experience and instructions on it use:
> https://www.eff.org/pages/spot-surveillance-vr-experience-keeping-eye-big-brother
>
> For details on the Aaron Swartz International Hackathon events at the Internet Archive, including talks by EFF 
> Executive Director Cindy Cohn, International Director Danny O’Brien, and Senior Investigative Researcher Dave Maass:
> https://www.eff.org/event/2018-aaron-swartz-day-hackathon
>
> For more on Street Level Surveillance:
> https://eff.org/sls
>
> For this release:
> https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-unveils-virtual-reality-tool-help-people-spot-surveillance-devices-their
>
> About EFF
>
> The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading organization protecting civil liberties in the digital world. 
> Founded in 1990, we defend free speech online, fight illegal surveillance, promote the rights of digital innovators, 
> and work to ensure that the rights and freedoms we enjoy are enhanced, rather than eroded, as our use of technology 
> grows. EFF is a member-supported organization. Find out more at https://eff.org.
>
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