Institute for Applied Autonomy

The Institute for Applied Autonomy was an activist group of anonymous artists known for employing technology in protest. The group focused on dissemination of knowledge, autonomy, and methods of self-determination through artistic expression and application of military-like technology to the topics of Criminal Mischief, decentralized systems and individual autonomy.[1]

History

The Institute for Applied Autonomy was founded in 1998 as an informal research collective around the central theme of contestational robotics.[2][3][4]

Its Mission statement was to "study the forces and structures which affect self-determination and to provide technologies which extend the autonomy of human activists."[5]

Projects

One of its better known initiatives was i-See, a decentralized CCTV map distribution software containing user-generated data including positioning of surveillance cameras in New York City, as well as several other international city centers, in protest of privacy violations on the general public.[6][7]

In 2003 they took part in the Cartographic Congress organised by the University of Openess in London[8]

Their project TXTMob, a registration system for cell phones to allow protest groups rapid, anonymous communication,[9] was used during the 2004 Republican National Convention.[10] TXTMob allowed users to subscribe to groups of like-minded persons via a web interface. Once subscribed, messages sent to the group would be passed from the web to the group members' cell phones.[11] In February 2008, the New York City Law Department issued a subpoena directed to the programmer of TXTMob, asking him to reveal users of the service and contents of messages sent during the convention.[12]

Other IAA projects included the Graffiti writer and Terminal air.

All IAA artwork has been copylefted, with permission for use as long as it is attributed.

References
  1. Cvar, Stacey Recht. (February 9, 2005) The Art of Sedition Archived 2007-08-05 at the Wayback Machine Cincinnati City Beat. Accessed December 14, 2007.
  2. "Interview with the Institute for Applied Autonomy". 27 June 2007.
  3. Leah Lievrouw (6 May 2013). Alternative and Activist New Media. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 48–. ISBN 978-0-7456-5833-9.
  4. Critical Art Ensemble (1 July 2001). Digital resistance: explorations in tactical media. Autonomedia.
  5. Denecke, Mathias; Ganzert, Anne; Otto, Isabell; Stock, Robert, eds. (1 February 2016). ReClaiming Participation: Technology - Mediation - Collectivity. transcript Verlag. pp. 272–. ISBN 978-3-8394-2922-8.
  6. Pentland, William. (November 16, 2007) Insecurity Cameras The Nation. Accessed December 14, 2007.
  7. Palmer, Brian (May 3, 2010). "Big Apple Is Watching You: How many surveillance cameras are there in Manhattan". Slate. Retrieved 2017-10-08.
  8. http://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/minima-cartographia-or-patient-becomes-agent
  9. Di Justo, Patrick. (September 9, 2004). Protests powered by cellphone The New York Times. Accessed December 14, 2007.
  10. Matt Ratto; Megan Boler (7 February 2014). DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media. MIT Press. pp. 58–. ISBN 978-0-262-52552-7.
  11. Tapio Häyhtiö (2008). Net Working/Networking: Citizen Initiated Internet Politics. University of Tampere. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-951-44-7464-4.
  12. Moynihan, Colin. (March 30, 2008). City Subpoenas Creator of Text Messaging Code The New York Times. Accessed April 9, 2008.
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