Under Surveillance

Partner: Rebecca Peterson

I self-surveilled starting April 25 at 12 AM until April 26 at 12 AM. Here is my minute by minute itinerary of when I was being tracked.

Text message received at 12:23 AM

Text message sent at 12:28 AM

Text message received at 12:37 AM

Text message sent at 12:37 AM

Text message sent at 12:38 AM

Phone call received at 12:39 AM

Text message received at 12:46 AM

Text message sent at 12:47 AM

Phone call made at 12:53 AM

Text message sent at 1:08 AM

Text message received at 1:09 AM

Text message sent at 1:10 AM

Text message sent at 1:10 AM

Text message received at 1:11 AM

Text message sent at 1:11 AM

Text message received at 1:11 AM

Text message sent at 1:12 AM

Text message received at 1:12 AM

Text message received at 1:13 AM

Text message received at 1:13 AM

Text message sent at 1:13 AM

Text message sent at 1:14 AM

Text message received at 1:15 AM

Text message sent at 1:15 AM

Text message received at 1:16 AM

Text message sent at 1:17 AM

Text message received at 1:17 AM

Text message sent at 1:36 AM

Text message sent at 1:49 AM

Entered dormitory at 2:02 AM

Phone call received at 2:03 AM

Entered dormitory room at 2:08 AM

Internet usage from 2:10 AM – 2:40 AM

Internet usage from 11:56 AM – 12:17 PM

Text message sent at 12:08 PM

Entered dormitory door at 12:33 PM

Text message received at 12:25 PM

Text message received at 12:43 PM

Text message sent at 12:46 PM

Text message received at 12:46 PM

Text message sent at 12:47 PM

Text message received at 12:50 PM

Internet usage from 12:56 PM – 1:38 PM

Text message received at 1:01 PM

Text message sent at 1:02 PM

Text message received at 1:03 PM

Text message sent at 1:04 PM

Text message received at 1:05 PM

Text message received at 1:09 PM

Phone call received at 1:10 PM

Text message received at 1:46 PM

Text message sent at 1:47 PM

Text message received at 2:10 PM

Entered dormitory at 4:02 PM

Entered dormitory room at 4:02 PM

Text message received at 4:02 PM

Text message sent at 4:03 PM

Text message received at 4:04 PM

Text message sent at 4:05 PM

Text message received at 4:06 PM

Text message sent at 4:06 PM

Text message received at 4:09 PM

Text message sent at 4:10 PM

Text message received at 4:10 PM

Text message sent at 4:10 PM

Text message received at 4:13 PM

Phone call made at 4:13 PM

Text message sent at 4:18 PM

Text message sent at 4:19 PM

Text message received at 4:19 PM

Internet usage from 4:20 PM to 4:48 PM

Text message received at 4:22 PM

Phone call made at 4:23 PM

Text message sent at 4:25 PM

Text message received at 4:25 PM

Text message sent at 4:26 PM

Text message received at 4:26 PM

Text message sent at 4:27 PM

Text message received at 4:28 PM

Text message received at 4:54 PM

Text message sent at 4:54 PM

Internet usage from 5:16 PM to 5:37 PM

Text message received at 5:25 PM

Text message sent at 5:55 PM

Text message received at 5:57 PM

Text message received at 5:57 PM

Text message received at 6:23 PM

Enter Segundo Dining Commons at 6:31 PM

Surveyed in DC by camera surveillance from 6:31 PM until 7:28 PM

Phone call received at 6:45 PM

Text message received at 6:58 PM

Text message sent at 6:58 PM

Text message received at 7:06 PM

Text message sent at 7:08 PM

Text message received at 7:09 PM

Text message sent at 7:10 PM

Text message received at 7:10 PM

Enter dormitory at 7:33 PM

Enter dormitory room at 7:35 PM

Internet usage from 7:41 PM to 8:42 PM

Text message received at 8:14 PM

Text message sent at 8:14 PM

Text message received at 8:15 PM

Text message sent at 8:16 PM

Text message received at 8:16 PM

Text message sent at 8:17 PM

Text message received at 8:18 PM

Text message sent at 8:18 PM

Text message received at 8:20 PM

Text message received at 9:20 PM

Text message sent at 9:22 PM

Internet usage from 9:23 PM to 9:26 PM

Text message sent at 9:28 PM

Text message received at 9:46 PM

Internet usage from 9:47 PM to 9:51 PM

Text message received at 9:48 PM

Text message sent at 10:13 PM

Text message received at 10:13 PM

Text message sent at 10:14 PM

Phone call received at 10:15 PM

Text message received at 10:16 PM

Phone call received at 10:25 PM

Here are the photos I took of my private self during the 48 hour period from April 26, 12 AM to April 28, 12 AM.

Reading, alone, in my dorm room at 12:30 AM, 4/26

Shower, 10:40 AM, 4/26

Getting dressed in my dorm room, 10:55 AM, 4/26

Dormitory bathroom at 3:28 PM, 4/26

Working on an article (no internet needed), 3:35 PM, 4/26

Bathroom, again, 7:75 PM, 4/26

Bathroom, 8:26 AM, 4/27

Bathroom, again, note umbrella for the rainy day. 1:02 PM, 4/27

Toilet! WOW! 3:24 PM, 4/27

Made tea in the dorm room at 7:17 PM, 4/27

Bathroom, one last time, 8:37 PM, 4/27

Doing dishes in the dorm, 11:51 PM, 4/27

Reading/homework in the dorm before bed, 11:58 AM, 4/27

Becky and I learned that we were always connected to the media. We were almost always using the internet or our cell phones, and when we weren’t, we were in our dorm rooms or in the DC (whereabouts that are tracked by our ID cards). The only time we were truly alone were when we were in the bathroom, or occasionally in our dorms when our roommates were not there. Even when we were alone in the dorms doing homework, we are usually required to be connected to the internet (case and point: this class).

Even though we were looking for surveillance equipment and we were constantly keeping track of our phone use, we didn’t really change ourselves. In this exercise, there was no real difference between a private self and a public self — we are simply used to always being under surveillance. There is no real circumstance where a public persona would be useful to us because we feel like we always have a public persona. Basically any time we may be physically alone, we are using our phones or are online. The lack of privacy from our phones always being on and being traceable is not compelling enough for us to be disconnected.