[spectre] Updates, Awards, Exhibitions & More - The Face to Facebook Newsletter

[Alessandro Ludovico]

Press Release,
January 19th, 2012. Stuttgart.

Face to Facebook
<http://t.ymlp231.net/eyazaejmbalahuarauswu/click.php>http://www.face-to-facebook.net
Stealing 1 million Facebook profiles, filtering 
them with face-recognition software and posting 
them without user authorization on a custom-made 
dating website, sorted by the characteristics of 
their facial expressions.
A project by Paolo Cirio and Alessandro Ludovico.

Vote for us if you want:
We're running for the NETWORK CULTURE AUDIENCE 
AWARD of the 25th Stuttgarter Filmwinter. Vote 
for Face to Facebook if you want:
<http://t.ymlp231.net/msagaejmbavahuavauswu/click.php>http://voting.creative.arte.tv/filmwinter
(just click on the picture and then rate it in the stars at the bottom)
Face to Facebook will be also in the exhibition 
"Medien im Raum & Network Culture" during the 
festival at the Filmhaus and is also nominated 
for the Jury Award.

In other awesome news:
We also won another renowned international award: 
the Share Prize (granted by the eponymous 
festival). For the statement of the jury 
(consisting of Bruce Sterling and Simona Lodi): 
"They blended artistic elements with an 
extraordinary talent for activism, bringing 
Zuckerberg's colossus to its knees. The winning 
artists did not hesitate to overstep the line of 
the law to denounce an even bigger theft to the 
detriment of users: that of the ownership rights 
to their personal data, held by Facebook"
<http://t.ymlp231.net/muaraejmbanahuapauswu/click.php>http://www.toshare.it/?page_id=5377&lang=en

Legal update:
It's somehow symbolic that instead of us, it's 
the media and some governments to take actions 
against Facebook and its face recognition 
software.
First, Facebook was threatened with a legal 
action in Germany over its facial recognition 
software, which critics say violates privacy and 
data protection laws:
<http://t.ymlp231.net/mearaejmbacahuapauswu/click.php>http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/03/facebook-facial-recognition-privacy-germany
Generally speaking the European Union is also 
very concerned about privacy violations derived 
from the same software and is seriously studying 
the case:
<http://t.ymlp231.net/mmaaaejmbaxahuafauswu/click.php>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/technology/09facebook.html
And finally respect is due to Max Schrems, 24, 
who decided to ask Facebook for a copy of his 
data in June after attending a lecture by a 
Facebook executive while on an exchange programme 
at Santa Clara University in California. He 
discovered the social networking site held 1,200 
pages of personal data about him, much of which 
he had deleted. He log a list of 22 separate 
complaints with the Irish data protection 
commissioner, and has started the audit process 
with Facebook.
<http://t.ymlp231.net/mjaraejmbaoahuanauswu/click.php>http://europe-v-facebook.org

Exhibitions and lectures:
In the next months we have the following lectures scheduled:
* 16 February, DATA, lecture, Dublin - Ireland
* 9 March, Unlike Us, lecture, Amsterdam - The Netherlands
* 21 June, "Poetry, Language, Code", lecture and exhibition, Cambridge, UK

In the last few months Face to Facebook was 
included in seven exhibitions and we made ten 
presentations around Europe and beyond. Here are 
some of the installation pictures:

* Share Festival Cops & Robs 2011 in Turin - Italy:
<http://t.ymlp231.net/mbaiaejmbagahuapauswu/click.php>http://face-to-facebook.net/face-to-facebook/face-to-facebook_share.php

* Impakt Festival, 2011, Utrecht - Holland:
<http://t.ymlp231.net/mhacaejmbaaahuazauswu/click.php>http://face-to-facebook.net/face-to-facebook/face-to-facebook_impakt.php

* Data cuerpos y retratos compartidos at De 
Centro Fundación Telefónica in Lima - Peru:
<http://t.ymlp231.net/mwaiaejmbakahuarauswu/click.php>http://face-to-facebook.net/face-to-facebook/face-to-facebook_lima.php


Thanks for your attention.
Paolo and Alessandro.