notes toward an essay about surveillance, which I'm writing despite the creepy feeling I get just thinking about it:
My cell phone has an accessory for 24-hour surveillance. All I have to do is install a tiny camera in my office or home, set the interval rate, and transmit the images via MMS. Every few minutes, I can pull out my phone and check the screen. The computer is still there. Drawers still shut tight. Sheets tucked neatly at the corners. No sign of theft. No evidence of an affair. This is not a feature I will ever use.
But am I somehow buying into the idea, just by purchasing the phone? (Even if the phone was free with instant rebates?) Am I indulging a subconcious desire - for safety, security, power? Or is it only indulged if I use the remote camera? What if the camera is installed in full view? What if it's hidden behind a picture frame?
I can log into the GPRS network, scan for friends, and track their approximate location (provided they are also on the network and grant permission). Karrie is near 1005 W Burnside and SW 10th. And if I had a GPS equipped phone, I could track my precise location on the earth's surface. My body could become a blip on the radar screen, never lost, forever cradled inside a right angle - the point where latitude and longitude collide.
My Nokia can snap pictures with the built-in camera, download my email on a POP3 client, or surf the web (although, at this point, the web is too expensive via cellphone). It can even record short videos in RealPlayer format.
What is all of this really about? What does it mean to track your location, spy on your own bedroom, or snap secret pictures in Pioneer Square? Do we have an inherent drive to surveil? These are the questions I'm wrestling with right now, as I sit here, "plugged" into wi-fi and live on the web, wondering why I feel the need to share my notes at all, and what that means, and whether these questions will ever lead to anything other than more questions.
*Here's an interesting article about cell phone cameras, in the Portland Tribune, dated November 28, 2003. I tend to listen to the radio (OPB, KBOO) for local stories (especially now, with a big project due for school) so I'm a little behind reading the newspapers.