Loca Blocks: Big Brother is Watching!

George Orwell’s “1984” is more real than you think. Because Big Brother is watching us! Well, sort of. If you consider Big Brother a hollow concrete block attached to a streetlamp or phone booth, then it’s certain we’re being watched.

Loca, a group of Finland– and UK-based “artist-researchers,” are running a project in San Jose. The have attached their Loca blocks around the city, and inside each unit is a mobile phone and its power source (keeping it alive for about a week). So what’s the catch?

This mobile phone continuously detects other devices which have their Bluetooth set to discoverable. The information is relayed to their central database and print out a receipt-style sheet per detected device. The sheet will contain info on places where the device (ultimately the pedestrian) has been to.

Their research revolves around “urban semantics.” Basically, what this means is, they can assess if someone is an alcoholic or not, because maybe he’s been detected in a bar or pub way too often. Or maybe they can conclude that a person was proposing marriage to someone because he went from a jeweler’s shop, to the flower shop, to the park, and then to dinner. The information you can derive from these receipt-sheets is very open-ended. But see, that’s where the “artist” in “artist-researcher” comes in.

Yes, Big Brother is watching. Sort of.

George Orwell’s “1984” is more real than you think. Because Big Brother is watching us! Well, sort of. If you consider Big Brother a hollow concrete block attached to a streetlamp or phone booth, then it’s certain we’re being watched.

Loca, a group of Finland– and UK-based “artist-researchers,” are running a project in San Jose. The have attached their Loca blocks around the city, and inside each unit is a mobile phone and its power source (keeping it alive for about a week). So what’s the catch?

This mobile phone continuously detects other devices which have their Bluetooth set to discoverable. The information is relayed to their central database and print out a receipt-style sheet per detected device. The sheet will contain info on places where the device (ultimately the pedestrian) has been to.

Their research revolves around “urban semantics.” Basically, what this means is, they can assess if someone is an alcoholic or not, because maybe he’s been detected in a bar or pub way too often. Or maybe they can conclude that a person was proposing marriage to someone because he went from a jeweler’s shop, to the flower shop, to the park, and then to dinner. The information you can derive from these receipt-sheets is very open-ended. But see, that’s where the “artist” in “artist-researcher” comes in.

Yes, Big Brother is watching. Sort of.