![]() That experience rushed back to me yesterday visiting an art installation at the Gropius-Bau Museum called The Watchtower. That included a frightening encounter with a voice from a watchtower loudspeaker that ordered me to move away from a forbidden zone by the Wall and a small river. For the first time, I felt a complete loss of control to a force that was (mostly) faceless and nameless and watching my every move. The experience of seeing both sides of ground zero of the Cold War was as close to a life changing experience as a suburban kid from Jacksonville, Florida could have. I first came to Berlin on a fellowship as a young high school student in 1987. With the artist who created The Watchtower – Nadia Kaabi-Linke (she says it’s actually based on a hunter stand, which, unlike a watchtower, is designed to be hidden). The authoritarian risk has only grown in the last 10 years (see China and its active export of its surveillance tools). It was instantly clear to us how different the world might have been if the East German surveillance state had the means to know what 1.2 billion people were doing, where they were going, what they were reading, and who they were communicating with. A colleague and I decided that very night, not so far from the former Stasi headquarters, to build a platform for people to take control of their own data and use as they choose. ![]() It’s also the city where I was tasked by Nokia – in 2009 – to figure out a strategy on what to do with data on 1.2 billion Nokia users. The 2-day event is being held quite purposely at a site adjacent to the former Berlin Wall on the 30th anniversary of its fall (on November 9, 1989). I’m in Berlin discussing digital identity and data empowerment at the World Frontiers Forum. The Watchtower at the Gropius-Bau Museum in Berlin. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |