'I Know Where Your Cat is' Emphasizes Surveillance Culture
Vasiliki Marapas — July 24, 2014 — Lifestyle
References: iknowwhereyourcatlives & dazeddigital
'I Know Where Your Cat Is' is an experimental enterprise that uses megadata to pinpoint the exact location of beloved pets all over the globe.
Artist and programmer Owen Mundy wanted to illustrate how intense and problematic our surveillance culture has become, and he wanted to hit us where it hurts: our precious felines. Hey, sometimes shock tactics are really effective! The experiment uses megadata that is provided by the owners, unbeknownst to them. Did you know that smartphones and digital cameras embed latitude and longitude coordinates in each image? Now, think of all the cat photos you share of Fluffy on Instagram, Flicker and Twitpic. Yeah, that's a lot.
The site superimposes one of those photos onto satellite map imagery. Although Mundy neglects to include specific street names or addresses, the images still lead us to one horrifying conclusion: it's frighteningly easy for someone to get your cat's address, and from something as simple as an Instagram photo #nofilter.
Artist and programmer Owen Mundy wanted to illustrate how intense and problematic our surveillance culture has become, and he wanted to hit us where it hurts: our precious felines. Hey, sometimes shock tactics are really effective! The experiment uses megadata that is provided by the owners, unbeknownst to them. Did you know that smartphones and digital cameras embed latitude and longitude coordinates in each image? Now, think of all the cat photos you share of Fluffy on Instagram, Flicker and Twitpic. Yeah, that's a lot.
The site superimposes one of those photos onto satellite map imagery. Although Mundy neglects to include specific street names or addresses, the images still lead us to one horrifying conclusion: it's frighteningly easy for someone to get your cat's address, and from something as simple as an Instagram photo #nofilter.
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