Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Civil Liberties

Why Two Artists Installed a Spy Lamp at McDonald's

Coversnitch is "bridging the gap between online and IRL" in the most terrifying way possible.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 4.24.2014 3:55 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
Screenshot/Conversnitch video

"Yeah right. Don't you know Loretta's an Aquarius?"

That's one snippet of conversation secretly recorded at an unspecified New York City McDonald's and broadcast on Twitter via @conversnitch, a project "bridging the gap between online and IRL" in the most terrifying way possible. It sharply highlights how easily we could all be surveilled without the slightest knowledge of it.

The conversations are being picked up by a device attached to an unassuming McDonald's table lamp by artists Brian House and Kyle McDonald. This "conversnitch" device cost under $100 to make and can plug into any ordinary light fixture. 

Conversnitch/Twitter

Using a microphone, a Raspberry Pi mini-computer, and the locale's own Wi-fi, conversnitch streams recordings to Amazon's Mechanical Turk, an online temp worker marketplace. Mechanical Turk freelancers then transcribe and tweet out bits and pieces of the digitally eavesdropped conversations. 

This has been going on for nearly seven months. 

"Conversations are fleeting in person, they last briefly and then disappear," McDonald, an adjunct professor at the New York University, told British magazine Dazed and Confused.

"It's exactly the opposite of everything the internet is. With everyone keeping more personal records every day, and various governments and corporations doing similarly, how much longer do we have until the idea of a fleeting moment, much less a private one, is a complete impossibility?"

 

Conversnitch/Twitter

As the video below shows, conversnitch is small and undetectable enough to be installed in restaurants, in libraries, on street corners, or just about anywhere. The code's available for free here. "Here were Brian and I trying to make something kind of scary, something that makes you wonder if someone's watching you all the time," McDonald said in an interview with Wired. "And then Snowden says, 'They are.'"

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: The FDA's E-Cigarette Regulations, Mostly Mild for Now, Could Set the Stage for a Crackdown

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason.

Civil LibertiesCultureSurveillancePrivacyArt
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Show Comments (64)

Latest

Trump's Haste Begets Lawlessness

Jacob Sullum | 6.4.2025 12:01 AM

D.C. Pauses Plans To Hike Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers

Billy Binion | 6.3.2025 6:00 PM

It's Rand Paul and Elon Musk vs. Donald Trump Over the 'Big Beautiful Bill'

Eric Boehm | 6.3.2025 4:35 PM

Female Nude Spa in Washington Can't Bar Transgender Clients With Male Genitalia, Federal Court Rules

Billy Binion | 6.3.2025 4:20 PM

Trump Cut Funds From Wasteful Projects To Spend on Wasteful Statue Garden

Joe Lancaster | 6.3.2025 3:50 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!