Dan Phiffer
Dan Phiffer is a programmer and artist based in Brooklyn working on projects that use computer networks as a raw material. In the Fall of 2011 Dan created Occupy.here as an alternative web forum for the Occupy Wall Street encampment and its affiliated working groups. Unlike the official OWS online forum, Occupy.here was only reachable via local wifi darknets at Zuccotti Park and at 60 Wall Street, another nearby Privately Owned Public Space. Each wifi node is designed to be disconnected from the Internet, operated independently in an archipelago of affiliated open virtual spaces. Dan is currently a fellow at Columbia’s Tow Center of Digital Journalism, and has had projects exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA PS1, and SFMOMA.
Presenting
Social Justice Warrior Network
If the underlying purpose of surveillance is control through self-censorship, I want to discuss what could happen if a lot of us aspire to have more to hide. My talk will propose a “network of radicals” for social justice. We are living through a crucial era when laws, norms, and architectures of technology still haven’t fully ossified. We should embrace our moment of historical leverage, while learning from the radicalism of the past.
Who believes that any of the current tech start-ups, awash in easy venture capital, have any chance of disrupting fundamental problems like income/wealth inequality or climate resilience? Let’s join together to build social software optimized for political solidarity rather than Monthly Active Users. It’s okay to keep sharing cat pictures, but we can do a better job collectively pursuing real political outcomes. Let’s embrace the label “social justice warrior” and begin living our digital lives as if the revolution has already happened.
There are wicked problems that mainstream politics (and existing social networks) may simply be unfit to solve. What kind of network infrastructure would actively facilitate radical change? Why not start building it now?
