Like an octopus in the digital ocean
The simple principle of the Accurate Resistance says: Creating clutter. Remember an octopus that fogs the water with ink in case of threat. We do it in the same way, but with data instead of ink. We throw digital smoke grenades, blur ourselves and irritate the surveillance systems. Let’s take an example:
Hey, everybody pregnant all at once?
Anything we do online is getting tracked. So, on purpose we can create data traces as red herrings. If over a period of time many more people than usual search for baby clothes, the algorithms will wrongly predict a higher birth rate. At the same time all the people searching are blurring their profiles. Who searches for baby clothes for no reason sets a false trace. Those digital red herrings have an effect: They have an effect on our profiles, prices, online advertising, entire markets and not least, the surveillance machinery.
Why pay more than the neighbor?
Another sample: Online retailers are personalizing their prices. For the same product or offering, one pays more than the other. A discrepancy can be generated simply by the fact that one person is searching with an Apple, the other with a Windows computer. Let’s have a look at this phenomenon and launch a great public price comparison. How many different prices will be offered to us for one and the same product? Who pays more, who less? And why? With a campaign like this we won’t impact the system, but instead of that we will get familiar with the new rules of the digital game and – not least in this case – we will figure out how to do the shopping at reduced rates.
By using these and numerous other experiments, we fight back against surveillance on the one hand and on the other hand we take a look behind the curtain of the Internet. Read more about the technological background and our long-term strategy.
