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Writer's pictureSon Luu

Veillance - Reflection 01

Updated: Mar 4, 2019



Class: Veillance

Professor: Shawn Every



The Facebook Revelation


How often do you look through the data that Facebook collects about you? I know I have never done that. I didn't even know that information was available to me.

The following was what I found as I explored the feature "Access Your Information."


Under Setting > Your Facebook Information > Access Your Information, scrolling all the way down to Information About You, "Calls and Messages" immediately caught my attention.






As I clicked to choose this category, I was able to see phone numbers of everyone I've saved on my phone. I don't even know when I sync that information to my facebook.





What is ironic about seeing this information here is the fact that I have lost 90% of these contacts since I changed my phone and changed my service provider. So, to see this formation fully saved and stored on Facebook was both a relief [to find all these phone numbers and contacts I thought I lost], and a surprise [to find them here, out of anywhere else]. The finding was definitely interesting.


As I thought about this, I'm not sure where I stand exactly with the fact that this information is stored on my Facebook account. The following questions came to my mind.


1. I didn't know I have this information stored

2. I didn't know I have access to it

3. I am kind of glad to find the information I thought I lost

4. What can people do with this information that is stored in the server?

5. What is being done with this information in Facebook server?

6. Should I be concerned?

7. What should I do?



Surveillance Cameras

Have you noticed how many surveillance cameras you would find, just within a short distance of one block away from your house?


Yesterday, Tuesday (Feb 05, 2019), I walked to school. It is usually a distance of about 0.8 miles, and I usually take about 20-25 minutes to get to the Tisch building. Another surprising finding was all the surveillance cameras around me that I could see easily within that short distance.


I am not even sure I was so surprised about. Am I surprised about the countless number of cameras? Or am I surprised about the fact that a record of my image is captured and stored in probably almost all of them, which I was never even aware?








There are only a fraction of what I was able to see. There were in all shapes and sizes. Some were easier to see than others. Some were more old-school looking; some looked more modern. A few were almost disguised in either very small sizes or non-traditional shapes.


So many questions were now raised in my awareness:


1. I never noticed I am being watched everywhere.

2. As long as it s not in my sight, I don't feel bothered or paranoid.

3. What about the idea of being watched by someone who is watched by someone who is also being watched by someone else.

4. What can be done with those records of me, for free?

5. Can I ask for a copy of it? My rights to these records?

6. Can I ask for it to be deleted?

7. Where else am I being watched that I don't know?

8. Being paranoid about being watched even though I have nothing to hide.

9. Should I be paranoid?

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