A Wi-Fi surveillance experiment is raising questions about our approach with mobile communication and the vulnerability of our privacy in the digital era. A network of sniffing devices was installed in the city centre of Bremen to gather MAC addresses of smartphones which would be used to monitor movement patterns of individual users. The MAC addresses was combined with a time and location stamp to create a database of which distinct movement patterns of individual users can be derived.
Imagine what happens if a database like this gets hooked up with delicate personal records. Assuming a very detailed network of sniffers established and set up to not only collect the MAC address but also observe packages of browsing activity, users could be monitored extremely accurate.
The installation cites several aspects of the technology and makes them experienceable: Visitors were encouraged to place their phones close to a Wi-Fi system that detects its MAC address and compares it with the data base. At concordance the visitor receives a metaphorical bill displaying the movement pattern during data collection along with time based tracking data and calculated assumptions.