Mirroring Medusa: counterveillance in Shooting Back

Abstract

In our society, apparati of electronic surveillance and satellite systems pervade almost every sector of our public and private lives. Information concerning individuals is controlled mostly by institutions, serving bureaucratic or corporate interest. The paper examines the possibilities of counter-surveillance in socio-cultural practices through Steve Mann's Shooting Back (S. Mann, 1997). In this 'meta-documentary', Mann dares to shoot back at the power of institutions and capital by recording the very devices of surveillance (e.g., surveillance cameras) with his tiny TV camera NetCam, which is hidden in his eyeglasses and connected to his wearable computer. This 'shooting' usually provokes quarrels with the clerks or the security guards. NetCam transmits the whole situation to share simultaneously with others who have access to his Web site. Through this skirmish with authority, we can examine the structure of omnipresent, 'capillary' power and grope for the possibilities for counterveillance via World-Wide Web.