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Review: Everyware by Adam Greenfield

By: Dan
22-07-2006
1984, Arbitrary, Architecture & urbanism, Articles, Book reviews, Bureaucracy, Business model, Censorship, Circumvention, Civil rights, Consumer rights, Control, Creeping erosion of norms, Deleuze, Democracy of innovation, Design, Design engineering, Design philosophy, Design with Intent, Designed to be unpleasant, Designed to injure, Designers, Digital rights, Discrimination, Discriminatory Architecture, Distasteful corollary, Do artifacts have politics?, Dystopia, Embedding code, Engineering, Engineering design, Erosion of liberty, Everyware, Exclusion, External Control, Feature deletion, Fightback Devices, Forcing functions, Foucault, Freedom to tinker, Future, Gadgets, Good design, Health and safety, Hidden persuaders, Indoctrination, Innovation, Interaction design, Intrusive technology, Invention, Japan, Killjoy technology, Law, Legislation, Liberty, London, Mobile phones, Monopoly, Norms, Observation, Oppression, Orwellian, Panopticon, Pervasive computing, Philosophy of control, Political design, Privacy, Product design, Propaganda, Prophecy, Public money, Punishment, Regulation, Rent-seeking, Restriction, Ringtones, Security, Shopping, Sneaky, Social engineering, Spatial, Stallman, Stifling innovation, Surveillance, Technical protection measures, Techniques of persuasion, Technology, Technology policy, Technology underclass, Treacherous computing, Trusted Computing, Ubiquitous computing, Underclass, US, User experience, User Psychology, Worldwide, Your property

The cover of the book, in a suitably quotidian setting

This is the first book review I’ve done on this blog, though it won’t be the last. In a sense, this is less of a conventional review than an attempt to discuss some of the ideas in the book, and synthesise them with points that have been raised by the examination of architectures of control: what can we learn from the arguments outlined in the book?

Adam Greenfield‘s Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing looks at the possibilities, opportunities and issues posed by the embedding of networked computing power and information processing in the environment, from the clichéd ‘rooms that recognise you and adapt to your preferences’ to surveillance systems linking databases to track people’s behaviour with unprecedented precision.

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Neuros: ‘Freedom by Design’

By: Dan
05-07-2006
Analog hole, Arbitrary, Broadcast flag, Business model, Cinema, Circumvention, Civil rights, Consumer rights, Control, Creeping erosion of norms, Democracy of innovation, Design, Design engineering, Design philosophy, Design with Intent, Designers, Digital rights, Do artifacts have politics?, DRM, Dystopia, Engineering, Engineering design, Entertainment, Erosion of liberty, Fightback Devices, Future, Gadgets, Good design, Gravy train, Greasing palms, Hidden persuaders, Indoctrination, Innovation, Intellectual property, Interaction design, Invention, Law, Legislation, Liberty, Lobbying, Monopoly, Movie industry, MPAA, Oppression, Philosophy of control, Political design, Product design, Propaganda, Protest, Public money, Regulation, Rent-seeking, Restriction, Social engineering, Stifling innovation, Technical protection measures, Techniques of persuasion, Technology, Technology policy, Technology underclass, Underclass, User experience, User Psychology, Vague rhetoric, Video, Worldwide, Your property

Following on from the last post about the Neuros MPEG4 recorder, looking on the Neuros website reveals something pretty unusual for a company involved in consumer product design – a clear statement of design philosophy, ‘What do we stand for?’ that’s heavy on content and light on vague rhetoric:

“Your Digital Rights and Why They’re Important to You

Throughout the history of technology, Hollywood has fought innovation at every turn. Even technologies that benefit the studios, and that we take for granted, exist only because someone fought the studios for their very existence

…

The more such legislation [e.g. Analog Hole Bill] gets passed, the less innovation consumers will see, and the fewer options you will have for enjoying your content

….

There are two opposing forces at odds here. On the one hand, there are exciting new technologies that offer more and more choices for consumers to access and enjoy digital media when and where they want it. On the other, there is Big Media and a few of its powerful allies working behind the scenes to limit consumer choices to when and where they want it. How this all plays out will depend on how the rest of us respond in the coming days, weeks and months.”

The statement even exhorts customers to get involved with the EFF and to get in touch with their elected representatives, which is again a great initiative.

This is just the kind of intelligent engagement by product designers & engineers with the political implications of – and influences on – their work for which I’ve been looking throughout the ‘Architectures of Control’ project. Whether it meets the kind of criteria proposed by Jennie Winhall’s ‘Is Design Political?‘, I don’t know, but by standing up for users’ rights in such an open and frank way, and indeed structuring its business around that philosophy, Neuros seems a lot closer to real user-centred design than the vague waffle so often promulgated as such.

Impressive.

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EFF: Another Endangered Gizmo – the Neuros MPEG4 Recorder 2

By: Dan
05-07-2006
Analog hole, Arbitrary, Broadcast flag, Business model, Cinema, Circumvention, Consumer rights, Control, Copyright, Creeping erosion of norms, Design, Design engineering, Design philosophy, Design with Intent, Designers, Digital rights, DRM, Dystopia, Engineering, Engineering design, Entertainment, Erosion of liberty, Fightback Devices, Future, Gadgets, Good design, Gravy train, Greasing palms, Innovation, Intellectual property, Interaction design, Invention, Law, Legislation, Liberty, Lobbying, Monopoly, Movie industry, MPAA, Norms, Oppression, Philosophy of control, Political design, Product design, Public money, Regulation, Rent-seeking, Restriction, Stifling innovation, Technical protection measures, Technology, Technology policy, User experience, User Psychology, Video, Your property

Neuros diagram
Image adapted from Neuros website

Via EFF DeepLinks, details of the Neuros MPEG4 Recorder 2, a product specifically designed to allow users to break through the arbitrary architectures of control imposed by other video devices and formats, and hence make the most of the content you own:

“[It] digitizes analog video output and records it to a CF card or a memory stick in MPEG4 format. The video can then be put on your computer, burned to DVD, moved to your video iPod, or slotted right into your Sony PSP. You can also output video to a display device from the R2.

In turn, the R2 helps you make legitimate use of your media and lawfully escape DRM restrictions…

* Free your recorded TV content: TiVo and other PVRs restrict moving recorded video to other devices. The DMCA limits removing these DRM locks, and, if the broadcast flag proposal passes, these restrictions will get even worse. Regardless, you can lawfully use the R2 to create a DRM-free copy, recording straight from your TV or TiVo.

* Free your DVDs: DVD ripping software is widely available, but using it to rip a film to your computer and video iPod may violate the DMCA. The R2 gives you a legal (albeit more cumbersome) alternative. Similarly, though region-free DVD players are available, you can use the R2 to help create a region-free copy of the movie itself.

* Free your VHS tapes: You’ve probably faced the unhappy choice between rebuying your VHS collection on DRM-restricted DVDs or lugging around a legacy player. The R2 helps you liberate your movies from their VHS chains.”

Of course, the R2 device’s legality – as a video analogue-to-digital converter – is threatened by proposed US legislation aimed at ‘plugging the analogue hole‘, hence its ‘endangered gizmo‘ status applied by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This would seem to be a case where a device really has been designed with the users’ needs and convenience uppermost in mind, yet it may be ruled out of existence by a legislature which listens more to (certain) corporate lobbying than to its own citizens.

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‘Labels on digital content should spell out how easy it is to move from gadget to gadget’

By: Dan
05-06-2006
Analog hole, Arbitrary, Art making a point, Audio, Britain, Bureaucracy, Business model, Circumvention, Consumer rights, Control, Copyfight, Copyright, Design, Design with Intent, Digital rights, DRM, Embedding code, Entertainment, Fightback Devices, Future, Gadgets, Graphic design, Intellectual property, Internet economics, Law, Legislation, Lobbying, London, MP3, Music, Music industry, Podcast, Political design, Public money, Radio, Regulation, Rent-seeking, Restriction, Retail, RIAA, Shopping, Technical protection measures, Technology policy, User experience, Your property

A DRM warning label mockup.
A warning label mockup*

The BBC is reporting that the All Party Internet Group (APIG), a cross-party group of MPs, has made some intelligent – and interesting – recommendations about explaining DRM more fully to consumers:

“The MPs’ report made several recommendations and called on the Office of Fair Trading hasten the introduction of labelling regulations that would let people know what they can do with music and movies they buy online or offline.

This would ensure that it was “crystal clear” to consumers what freedom they have to use the content they are purchasing and what would happen if they do something outlawed by the protection system.

The same labelling systems would also spell out what happened in the event of a maker of DRM technology going bust, if a protection system became obsolete or if gadgets to play the content are replaced.

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High frequency wave files back up again

By: Dan
31-05-2006
Architecture & urbanism, Art making a point, Audio, Cell phones, Civil rights, Consumer rights, Control, Creeping erosion of norms, Crime, Design, Design engineering, Design with Intent, Designed to be unpleasant, Disabilities, Discrimination, Discriminatory Architecture, Distasteful corollary, Do artifacts have politics?, Dystopia, Engineering, Engineering design, Entertainment, Erosion of liberty, External Control, Fightback Devices, Gadgets, Health and safety, Innovation, Interaction design, Intrusive technology, Invention, Killjoy technology, Liberty, Mobile phones, Mosquito, MP3, Music, Open source, Oppression, Orwellian, Philosophy of control, Podcast, Political design, Product design, Retail, Ringtones, Shopping, Sneaky, Social engineering, Sound weapons, Techniques of persuasion, Technology, Technology policy, Teenagers, Underclass, Urban, User experience, User Psychology

They’re back up (well, the wave files anyway), thanks to the Internet Archive.

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High frequency ringtone download

By: Dan
25-05-2006
Architecture & urbanism, Art making a point, Audio, Cell phones, Civil rights, Consumer rights, Control, Creeping erosion of norms, Crime, Design, Design engineering, Design with Intent, Designed to be unpleasant, Disabilities, Discrimination, Discriminatory Architecture, Distasteful corollary, Do artifacts have politics?, Dystopia, Engineering, Engineering design, Entertainment, Erosion of liberty, External Control, Fightback Devices, Gadgets, Health and safety, Innovation, Interaction design, Intrusive technology, Invention, Killjoy technology, Liberty, Mobile phones, Mosquito, MP3, Music, Open source, Oppression, Orwellian, Philosophy of control, Podcast, Political design, Product design, Retail, Ringtones, Shopping, Sneaky, Social engineering, Sound weapons, Techniques of persuasion, Technology, Technology policy, Teenagers, Underclass, Urban, User experience, User Psychology

High frequencies being tested in the urban badlands: see, no teenagers here!
High frequencies being tested in the urban badlands: see, no teenagers here!

A lot of people find this site through searching for something along the lines of ‘Mosquito high frequency anti-teenager ringtone’, and are presumably disappointed when they find that there is no such ringtone to download, even if just because they’d like to test it on friends and family. (More on the Mosquito device) There’s also the more possibility of course of using the ringtone as a kind of ‘secret ringtone’ that, supposedly, only younger people can hear, so you can receive text messages, etc, e.g. while in class, without adults noticing, though I’d have thought that was partially the point of the vibrate mode.

Anyway, I thought I might as well give those searching what they’re looking for, sort of.

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Written by Dan Lockton, 2004-12

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