back to article Privacy pop-up exhibit shows people in The Glass Room shouldn't throw phones – though they may well want to

The Glass Room, a conceptual art and educational exhibit that opened Wednesday in a storefront on Market Street in San Francisco, provides visitors with a glimpse of how technology companies use personal data in the hope of prompting questions about the consequences of information technology. The interactive show, curated by …

  1. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
    Flame

    In Silicon Valley...

    It's all about the money. Everything else is just lip service.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I don't normally go for these modern artistic type things, but this looks really interesting...just a shame I'm completely the wrong side of the planet to be able to go visit it :-/

    1. sbt
      Thumb Up

      The wrong end of the series of tubes

      Likewise. No word on upcoming locations in the lower half of the world.

    2. Notas Badoff

      Or coming from a different direction

      "Hankey said she believes San Francisco, given its ties to the tech industry, is the place where this conversation should be happening."

      (Gripey) Or they could have plopped it in the faces of Washington DC where the policy makers could get horrified/educated/motivated. But we wouldn't want new rules/laws/responsibilities created and enforced, would we? Rather we want to 'appeal' to the industry's 'conscience', right? Mozilla wants to be huggable by everyone, industry included.

      (Grumpy) So that's where Mozilla's money goes! Highest cost exhibition space?

      1. G R Goslin

        Re: Or coming from a different direction

        I doubt that the 'policy makers' will be particularly interested, unless there's money in it (for themselves)

  3. lglethal Silver badge
    Trollface

    Where exactly can i get that Zuck Rolodex? It might come in handy the next time there's a cock-up on one of my projects...

    1. Sir Awesome

      You'll have to make do with the excuse calendar :]

      1. Alister

        excuse calendar linky

        1. Sgt_Oddball
          Pint

          That....

          Is the work of genius.. Evil genius mind, but still genius.

    2. WolfFan Silver badge

      philistine

      You should only, ah, 'borrow' from the best. And the best was this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvujknrBuE

      Just remember, we're on a Mission From God. The Zuck is on a mission from God's competition.

  4. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    Demitri Martin...

    I think we should agree a no throwing of stones situation whatever the house construction.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Demitri Martin...

      My wife's family still talk about the "rock house". That was a couple generations back, though.

  5. Luiz Abdala
    Trollface

    XKCD

    It doesn't matter if your horse is using the correct stapler battery, if your password is on that list.

    Yes, quote XKCD now.

    https://xkcd.com/936/

    (Hint: he is still correct in his assesment, though, despite it being useless in this case. Context, people.)

  6. cantankerous swineherd

    internet birthday, internet email address and internet mobile number mitigate some of the worst features of the panopticon.

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge
      Holmes

      Odd how many users were born in 1900

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        First of January 1970 if you're asking.

        As for location, since GDPR I changed that from United States Minor Outlying Islands to Germany.

  7. Mike 137 Silver badge

    How real?

    The ostensible privacy mission of this expo was somewhat undermined for me by a Tactical Tech web site that consists entirely of JavaScript with analytics code in the dominant place. There is in all fairness a "lite" site that doesn't use scripts, but you're only redirected to that if scripting is disabled. Tactical Tech describes itself as "an international NGO that engages with citizens and civil-society organisations to explore the impacts of technology on society". It's apparently based in Germany, despite which its privacy notice doesn't comply with the requirements of the GDPR.

    What I refer to these days as "challenge initiatives" such as these are sprouting like mushrooms. I recently encountered another called Consciousness Hacking, whose mission is apparently to create "a world where wisdom and modern technology are in harmony" - a worthy aim, but from my admittedly single contact with it, rather a diffusely defined one.

    The dominant characteristics of these and many other challenge initiatives seem to be huge enthusiasm, lack of specific focus and limited expertise in the arena being challenged. While sympathising with many of the aims, one wonders how effective this recipe is for driving real lasting change. I suspect that the feelgood factor of being apparently involved in big issues might often be more significant than the results obtained.

  8. cman52

    Christ said "The love of money is the root of all evil".

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