And you're listening to Radio Station WBAI New York, where the time is 7 o'clock.
Time once again for Off the Hook.
And you're listening to Radio Station WBAI New York, where the time is 7 o'clock.
Time once again for Off the Hook.
And you're listening to Radio Station WBAI New York, where the time is 7 o'clock.
And you're listening to Radio Station WBAI New York, where the time is 7 o'clock.
And a very good evening to everybody.
The program is Off the Hook.
Emmanuel Goldstein here with you, joined tonight by Mike.
Hi.
Rob T. Firefly.
Good evening.
And Jim in the studio.
Hello.
Down in Pennsylvania somewhere, Bernie S.
Greetings from Pennsylvania.
Let me start the proceedings by saying that we had a challenge to our listeners to pledge
a certain amount or have a certain number of people call in, not call in, go to the
website, WBAI.org, and pledge for the WBAI Buddy System.
And if 20 people did that at $10 a month, we wouldn't have to fundraise tonight.
Well, we did not make that goal.
I think we didn't even come close.
We're not even halfway done.
We're not even halfway there.
15 people doing that would have made this a fundraising-free program.
Unfortunately, we did not make that.
Now, it's not all bad news because we're learning as we go along.
Next time, we're not on here next week.
We will be on in two weeks, and we already are planning a special fundraising show for
then.
But there are at least two more programs after that.
And if we reach the number, if we get to 20 people, by that time, one of those programs,
or maybe even more, if we get 40 people, will be fundraising-free, even though it's in the
middle of the fund drive.
So we're still opening it up to our listeners to do this.
So the people who are—there are going to be people who email us tonight.
They're going to be like,
Hi, I don't listen live.
I listen to the internet, and I really want to pledge to your show.
How can I do it?
And we have an answer for you, and that is go on WBAI.org, look for the BAI Buddy thing,
click on it, fill it out, and then send us an email saying your name and that you pledged
and that you really like us.
You could say you only like us a little bit if that's more honest.
And then—so if enough people do that, then we won't have to pledge at the end.
Okay.
And also, we're offering a special incentive for people, including the people that already
have pledged, who are local or who want to be local.
We have free tickets to an event on, what is it, Saturday night?
What's the date there?
The date is Saturday, October 27th.
Okay.
From the times 1 to 5 p.m. or 6 to 9 p.m.
Well, evening will be 6 to 9 p.m.
Right.
So what are we offering?
I think Bernie knows the most about it, but it's tickets to a haunted house experience.
Okay.
Well, our friend John Huntington, who's been a HOPE speaker and been on the show before,
is a teacher at the New York City College of Technology.
And it's an entertainment technology curriculum.
And they do a fundraising thing every year called the Gravesend Inn Haunted Hotel.
We've been to it before.
It's pretty amazing.
I'm going to read a brief description here that he sent us.
It says, The Gravesend Inn is an interactive, high-tech haunted hotel
done by the Entertainment Technology Department of the New York City College of Technology's
annual fall production.
We've been doing it for more than 10 years.
And each year we add and revamp the technology
and are using many of the exact same technologies as used in places like Disney and Universal.
The audience, while unaware, actually runs the entire attraction.
And we do some fun stuff with surveillance video that we don't want to give away.
So if you just search online for Gravesend Inn, you can find out about it.
And the tickets that you're going to be giving away to pledgers are for the following dates.
Well, it's only for one date.
It's actually for, what was that again, Rob?
Saturday the 27th.
And that's the evening show?
Yeah, the evening show, 6 to 9 p.m.
Okay, cool.
And what people have to do is they have to, and those of you who have already pledged,
we'll be contacting you, I suppose.
If you go to wbai.org and sign up for the WBAI Buddy System,
send us an email saying that you did that because we won't find out otherwise.
And also let us know if you're interested in attending that show.
Again, the date is?
Saturday the 27th from 6 to 9 p.m.
Okay.
You don't have to be there all three hours, but you can if you want to.
And we'll set you up for that.
And if you're not local, don't fret because you still get the WBAI premiums
that come with being a BAI Buddy,
and you also get all kinds of other fun things that go along with that.
So please, wbai.org, become a BAI Buddy.
If you're listening to this show, in the future sometime,
and if we get, I think, another 15 or 14 more people by the 24th,
we can go fundraising free for at least one more night.
So that's kind of cool.
Tonight, though, it is going to be a fundraiser.
And to get into the theme of what that fundraiser is going to be,
we have this special presentation.
Welcome back, netizens,
to this newest edition in Juice Media's series of Rap News Journalism
with me, Robert Foster.
This evening, we're actively delving in depth to facts
which affect all of us who dwell on this Internet.
And we've got to give a special welcome to all the ladies and agents
from the NSA, ACO, MI5.
Glad you're listening in because today's show is all about surveillance
and how it's spreading from the streets.
Here's Robert.
Hello, everyone.
I'm Robert Foster.
I'm a journalist.
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Anything we do now actually is.
How is it?
You can't question my authority thanks to this.
And that's just global, people.
In Australia it's now legal for the government to store all sms's, searches and e-mails.
Australians is taking place under your nose.
Unless you can wake up all your data are belong to ASIO.
Come on, everyone knows.
You can trust the government now.
If you got nothing to hide, you got nothing to worry about.
That might be the case with things that are happening now
because most people all agree with most of the laws that are being handed down.
But once the Illuminati reveals their agenda for you
then surveillance will enforce laws you can no longer consent to.
But by then it'll be too late to protest, too
And anything you've ever said, time to browse
Can and will be used against you
I'm confused, so what should we do then?
What should we do?
Nothing, this is all an illusion
It's just a ride, a delusion
The Matrix, the Maya deceiving us
Oh, you hippies really make our job so much easier
Sorry to interrupt, but we're picking up
A signal from beyond the space-time continuum
Quick, switch on the juice-channeling portal
Wait, is that...
George Orwell?
Good day to you
Wow, what do we owe this honor to?
I tried to warn you noobs, but I see you are actually fools
What else, you thought this was an instruction manual?
Yes, so can you advise us?
What would you have us do?
An open and universal internet is the most effective tool you have
To address the issues that afflict the world at hand
Therefore, protecting it is the most essential task
That stands before your generation
I think I understand
Hush, man, you must not lose the internet
Heed this mantra
Who controls the internet controls the data
And who controls the data controls the future
We're losing you
I leave you with a tool to use
An onion?
Don't be simple, Robert
This is but a simile
It stands for Tor
Tor?
Google it
It's for anonymity
This onion router open network helps considerably against tyranny
But its abilities only work if all you f***ers use it consistently
And even if you don't use it, run it
So it's forced wealth
Thanks, Mr. Orwell
From no one, call me George Torwell
If we'd had such tools when I wrote this, well
It would have been so much simpler to tell Big Brother to go f*** himself
The motherf***ing, sucking piece of s***
Thanks, George Torwell
For manifesting direct from this memory hole of history
To impress on us these messages
We're told we need safety, which is precious, yes
But can a society that can enforce all its laws ever progress?
Hindsight shows that many figures guilty of thought crime
Turned out to be luminaries and heroes before their time
But if a surveillance state had reigned then in this form and design
Just think of all the progress we may have all been denied
Could lobbies for women's or gay rights have appeared and thrived?
Would revolutionary ideals have materialised?
Would science have pioneered or even survived
If every word had been monitored by thought, police and spies?
Big Brother brings chilling effects, freezing our collective hopes
He doesn't protect our safety, but protects the status quo
And threatens this internet, the one channel yet uncontrolled
Whose openness we are now called upon to effect and uphold
Wow, that was pretty cool. Rob T. Firefly, what was that?
That was the latest edition of Rap News, which is by The Juice Media
You can find them on YouTube and other places
And we've played them before on this show
And I suspect we will do in the future
They just keep cranking up
Well, they certainly have intro'd us into tonight's theme
And tonight's theme is surveillance
And we were talking about surveillance before
With relation to various other things
We've talked about it many times in this program
And tonight we are offering all kinds of surveillance-related things
But first let me introduce, joining us on the phone, is Kyle out in Seattle
You there, Kyle?
Hello, yes, I'm here
How you doing?
I'm pretty well
Okay, yeah, you went on a long bike ride today, I understand
Um, yeah, I was out there for like five or six hours
Okay, well, you're probably pretty tuckered out, I can understand that
So we'll try to keep it simple and not too strenuous here
You are half, well actually, yeah, you're one of actually several people
That have poured their heart into the hacker calendar
We did this last year and the theme was telephony
But this year, and by this year I mean 2013
Because the next calendar is for next year
Uh, we, the theme is surveillance
And, um, uh, you've taken half the shots
Half the photos that appear in this calendar
And, um, I gotta say, um, between you and Dave Buchwald
Who did the other half of the shots
There are some really amazing pictures here
Of surveillance in our world
Low tech and high tech
And, uh, I think this is something that, um, uh
Will be on the walls of many people's homes and offices in the next year
And it's something that we're offering tonight
But first, let's describe it a little bit
Um, uh, Kyle, would you like to, uh, say something about, uh
What it was like to put this together?
Oh, wow, well, see, you're talking about the, uh, 2013 calendar
And, uh, actually, I was, I was just switching over my 2012 calendar
That was the first hacker calendar that we did
Um, and it was the same group
Dave was doing half and I did the other half of the photos
And, uh, his photo for October of 2012
Is the Palm Street building
Which is a big, uh, central office in New York City
And that actually ties in with surveillance a little bit
Um, because that's, uh, where a lot of the alleged NSA, um
Kind of siphoning off of data and all that stuff, uh, is happening
That was one of the buildings, I think, that was referred to
As a part of what the NSA is trying to do
As far as collect everything
Which, which was mentioned in, in the, in the, uh, track
The Juice, uh, media track
So, um, yeah, the, the, uh, calendar is basically, uh
A little bit of Dave's photos, a little bit of mine
And, um, we went out and produced a lot of the stuff for the 2013 calendar
Uh, we did some field production
We traveled a bit
We sure did, we went to some interesting places
We got into a bit of trouble, too
We'll get into that in just a couple of minutes
But, um, yeah, you know, you were mentioning this
The first calendar was basically a collection of photos
That, uh, you guys happened to take over the years
But this one, um, you guys really went out and, and sought out some things
And surveillance is a fascinating topic
And it's really interesting, too
Because, uh, the people in charge of surveillance
Never want you taking pictures of them
And that's, of course, what we love to do
Um, so, yeah, going all the way over to the UK to get shots
And you got some really fantastic shots
We're gonna describe them in just a moment
But first, let me just say to the people that are interested in obtaining this
As quickly as possible
The phone number is 212-209-2950
And what you'll get for a pledge of $50, only $50
You will get two of these calendars signed by the three of us
Myself, because, uh, I did a lot of the research onto the calendar dates
And we'll get into that in a moment
I didn't take any pictures
But I, I sure looked into a lot of, uh, hacker history here
And pretty, pretty sick of it, to be honest
Uh, but, uh, Kyle, uh, took, uh, half the photos
Throughout, uh, various parts of the world
And Dave took the other half
And, uh, you'll get all of our autographs on there for what that's worth
We won't, we won't cover up any, any really good-looking picture
With our, with our scroll
For a pledge of $50, you'll get two of those
And the reason we're sending two is because
Maybe you want to give one as a gift
You know, it's quite possible
So you're saying the, where the signatures are
You'll know that's the worst picture?
No, no, no, we won't scroll it over a picture
We'll put it on, on the white
People complain about that
They say, why'd you sign on my favorite picture for?
You ruined the whole thing, you know?
I've, I've heard that
We wouldn't want that
So you'll sign on the white part
Which there's a little bit of
But it's really, it's a big photograph
We could sign on the dates
We could sign, yeah, we could sign on
There's lots of white space
I have a question which none of our listeners are going to care about
Why is, uh, the 2012 winter solstice blacked out?
Well, uh, because, first of all, um
It's blacked out on, on the 20, 2012 calendar
And the 2013 calendar, as many calendars do
Has the last four months of 2012 on a single page
So you could, you can start using it immediately
You can install this calendar in your home right away
You don't have to wait until January 1st
And of course, as, as many of us know
December 21st is the date that has been marked as, well, possibly
Possibly, we're supposed to say possibly the end of the world
Ah, I see
Because we don't know for sure it's going to be the end of the world
But if it is
If it is the end of the world
If it is, you know
Because it's a big black square on December
You don't need a 2013 calendar in that case
But I don't, I don't think the world's going to end
And, and if the world is going to end
Then, uh, you should, you should support WBAI
Who will tell you, uh, more than, than anyone
About how the ending is going
Oh, of course, yeah, yes, Carl?
Uh, uh, well, we're erring on the side of, of like optimism
We, we decided what the heck
Uh, we'll just, we'll come out with the 2013 calendar
As you pointed out, um, this theme is, uh, surveillance
The first calendar we had, um, uh, original art
Of mostly telephones and, and this telco building as I had, as I described
And I, I did also want to speak to something you said, uh, Emmanuel
That, um, you did an outstanding, like, truly outstanding job
Compiling a lot of the dates, um, and the info
And we really filled in more than, like, your typical holidays
And things like that
And I want to also, uh, thank the supporters and listeners
Of, uh, Off the Hook and WBAI, um, as well as readers of the magazine
Who contributed, because that was, uh, basically we, we compiled a whole lot of information
From people that had suggestions for important moments
In either, um, recent hacker history
Or very distant, um, or, um, tangential, uh, uh, hacker history
So that was, that was one thing that was just amazing
Is that how, how filled up the actual days are
And as, as you guys were speaking to, um, the end of the world and whatnot
And is, is noted on there as well
Thanks for saying outstanding, because usually people say manic
And, well, you know, I do take that as a compliment as well
I, I know outstanding is more of a unconditional compliment
So, yes, I did pour many hours into, uh, tracking things down
And getting things right and checking sources
And then checking them again
Yeah, and it really is, it really is incredible
I'm flipping through this calendar
And you see on a lot of, uh, themed calendars, uh, a couple of things written on days here and there
Besides the standard holidays and whatnot
But most of the days on here, I would venture to say, um, the
Majority of the days have something on them
And a lot of them have multiple things on them
So, it's really, there are really lots of lessons to be learned from this calendar
As to days in hacker history and significant, uh, other, other events
There is just so much going on
I just found out that, uh, Gary McKinnon was apparently indicted on my birthday
Um, I did not know that before
And that sort of makes you complicit in that
You'll find out many things
If you look at your birthday on this hacker calendar
You will find out something that happened that might shock you
What's today's date, does anybody know?
Uh, it's October
Look it up, there's a calendar somewhere
Oh, wait a minute
October 3rd
Oh, look at that, October 3rd
Okay, look at all the things that happened on October 3rd
Wow, look at that
Okay, let's start
Um, Microwave Communications, Inc. was founded in 1963
Have you guys ever heard of Micro Communication, uh, Microwave Communications, Inc.?
Is that MCI?
That is MCI, very good, Mike
Yes, that's, uh, that was the company
1963, that was founded
That's the kind of thing you learn
When did it go out of business?
Has it gone out of business?
It merged with Verizon
And became something evil
But that's not all
Many of these dates have more than one entry
And October 3rd is no exception to that
Email storm generated at Department of Homeland Security
Causing more than 2.2 million messages to be sent
Exposing the names of hundreds of security professionals
That happened in 2007
So, you know, that's a fact that, uh, you probably wouldn't be aware of
Unless you had the hacker calendar
So again, let's, let's, let's get out the information
Because we have several levels here
$50, you will get two of these calendars
Autographed by, by the three of us
For $75, you will get the calendars plus
15 separate talks from various Hope conferences
That deal with the topic of surveillance
Everything from, from William Binney
The NSA whistleblower
To Steve Rombaum, who, uh, who tells you all kinds of things
About how your privacy does not exist anymore
To various spies and government people
Fascinating stuff, absolutely fascinating
You'll get those 15 DVDs along with the two calendars
For a pledge of $75 to 212-209-2950
And we have one final level
For $125, you will get all of that
You'll get the calendars, you'll get the DVDs
And one of those amazing spy pens
That, so that you can become Big Brother yourself
And stick a pen someplace and spy on somebody
I guess that sounds pretty evil
We offered this before and we got an overwhelming response to it
We got complaints from the phone company
So many calls were coming in
What it is, it's a, it looks like a pen
I think you can even write with it
It is a pen
It is a pen
You can write with it
And in an emergency you can write with it
And, and you would never suspect
If someone was just carrying a pen around
You'd be like, oh they must like to write
But what they might be doing is spying on you
Recording the video
And then they can upload the video to their computer
And look at it and, and see everything that the pen saw
You can be the they in that scenario
You can be the person with the secret pen
Pledge $125 or more
Oh, where's that ringing coming from?
I don't like that
Oh, I'm turning that down
Okay, I hate that sound
I love the sound of calls coming in
Don't get me wrong
I just don't like the sound on the air all the time
Like some people do
I'm sorry, continue
Anyway, I was going to say the phone number
Go ahead, someone already knows it
Which is 212-209-2950, country code 1
If that's, if important to you
How am I still getting, I turned it down
Where's it coming from?
Is it that one?
All right, maybe it's over there now
Wow, well the calls are coming in as you can see
And apparently we have a new ringer
Because that used to be a bell
An old-fashioned, like what, 501 bell, Kyle?
Oh yeah, mall 500 or something
And it seems that it's been upgraded
And now it's a digital, like, desk phone
Well, I can tell you we have two calls on the line
And let's bring in some more
Again, the spy pens are really cool
Now, I know some people out there might be saying
Hey, wait, what gives here?
I pledged for a spy pen
The last fundraiser, I still haven't gotten it
Yes, the order is still coming in
We have not forgotten you
We've got everybody's names
Everyone's getting them
The order is going to be delivered pretty much
With a bunch of extras
And they'll probably all go out at the same time
So if you pledge for it now
You won't have to wait the amount of time
That the people who pledged last time
And we're sorry to them for having to wait
Sometimes we just get backlogged
But we're ordering a whole bunch of them
And they should be pretty cool and fun and amazing
Steve Romba actually was talking to me about these
And he said they're a lot of fun to play with
And if he says something is a lot of fun to play with
I would believe him
Because he spends his life doing this kind of thing
So again, 212-209-2950
$50 you get the two calendars
The two surveillance calendars
$75 the calendars
Plus 15 separate talks from the HOPE conferences
On surveillance
And $125 you get all of that
Plus an amazing spy pen
That actually will record video and audio
I was just reviewing the list of talks
That come with the $75 pledge
It comes with the $125 as well, the DVDs
So and one of the talks on there is
John Young and his wife Deborah from Krypton
Who have a thing on the New York Police Department's
Ring of Steel
Oh yes
Which is...
And they've gone and they've mapped the whole thing
And there's a talk about it
And I didn't see the talk which is really sad
Well now you can
If you pledge you can see the talk
Because you'll get the DVDs in the mail
And you can just put it in your DVD player and watch
And yeah, the Krypton folks
They are some of our favorite people in the world
They've been on this show
And boy they are vital resources
Not only here in New York City
But throughout the world
For the information that they get out
And they've been doing it
They know their stuff
They've been doing it for years
And they shared some of this with us at HOPE No. 9
And they'll share it with you if you pledge
212-209-2950
And for that pledge of $75
You will get that talk by Krypton
Plus 14 others
I don't know where you could get 15 DVDs
Full of interesting content
For $75 anywhere
But in return for $75
We'll give you those
And we'll give you two of our calendars
Signed by the people who made them
And I just think that's an incredible deal
But of course most importantly
You get this radio station
And you keep this venue alive for people like us
And listeners like you
Let me correct you on something, Rob
You say they'll get 14 of the DVDs
Some of the talks are more than one DVD
So you'll actually get more than 15 DVDs
You'll get 15 talks
But some of them are more than one DVD
So you'll get more than 15 DVDs
And try buying 15 movies
Or 15 TV show DVDs
For anything around $75
You can't do it
I don't think you can do it
Again 212-209-2950
Frontlines are open now
And again we have those three pledge levels
And those are the pledge levels that we will have tonight
That's everything we are offering
But we're only offering it until 8 o'clock our time
So that's how it goes
If you're listening after that
Well we've already gone over some of the options
That you have for that
But it won't include this
And the reason for that is because
We're practically
Actually we are giving it away
Not practically giving it away
We are giving it away to the radio station
And we can't give it away 24 hours a day
Otherwise our supply would soon be depleted
Now Kyle let's go over some of the shots
I know the cover
The cover is not your shot
That's one of Dave's shots
But would you like to describe it to us?
Yes, yeah
The cover was really fun
I got the honor of being on the cover of the first calendar
And this one
Dave had the opportunity to do it
And he put something really iconic on
It was sort of a kind of beat up old
Hard to make out
But classic peephole in the outside of a door
You might find in a building or something like that
And this was chosen for the cover
And it basically speaks to the theme of peering out
Somebody on one side looking out
And authenticating who's out there
And that kind of thing
So it's kind of a
At first glance you can't tell
You can see that it's a door and stuff
But it's hard to make out that it's a peephole
And then you can make it out with its big brass plating
And the old name cards or whatever
Sort of tarnished or disintegrating
Well that's what makes it so intriguing to me
It looks sort of like the eye of HAL in 2001
You're looking at this thing wondering
What is this?
What is this thing staring at me?
And then it comes to you
You realize wow that is a peephole in just a normal door
The most rudimentary of surveillance devices
That exist out there and that are everywhere
For sure for sure
Now I don't know exactly where he found that
I don't know the background behind it
But I think he just walked up to a door
I believe somewhere in Brooklyn
And just snapped that shot
Which you know if somebody was looking out
At that peephole at the time
It must have really freaked them out
There's a lot of doors in Brooklyn
There are there are
And he tested out several hundred
Before he found the one that worked
But let's move on to the photo that graces
The walls of people who hang the calendar up right now
Because four months are represented on this page
Because it's a 2013 calendar
But like we mentioned the last four months of 2012
Are featured on one page
So that you can start using it immediately
So for September, October, November, and December
There is a photo of Kings Cross station that Kyle took
And this this is one of my favorites
Because you see the motion of very busy people
Walking through the station
You just see that kind of the blur of the people there
But then if you look above them
You see what appears to be an endless row of surveillance cameras
Just goes on into the into the distance
That was that was an amazing place wasn't it Kyle?
Yeah I was really taken by this station
It's really cool the way they remodeled it
Keeping some of the old structure and facade
But also integrating these enormous metal beams
And I don't know gantries or rigging
I don't know what it is
But they hold up this amazing glass ceiling
And people just are milling about
And it seems every shoulder width or so apart
Above this one entryway
Some domed cameras are looking are peering down
Over every no more than like two shoulder lengths
For each camera it seems
That's just how they're blanketing every person that
What and you'd think you know what
Who's going to walk
Who's going to do something right there
What is possibly in the field of view
It's sort of absurd
And that whole station was like that
I remember we've talked about this
I think mentioned it before
But when we were there
I did sort of a panorama
Just turn around and count it
And I looked at every single angle
And tried to count as many cameras as I could
And in that particular spot
Just adjacent to where I was photographing this
There was at least 70
I think between 60 and 70 cameras
70 cameras that you could see standing in one space?
Yeah just turning around and pointing and counting them
Either they were up on the second floor
Or covering the escalator or other entryways
I just spun around like pivoted around
And counted every single camera
And do you realize there's a recording of you doing that
From 70 different angles now?
Yeah there's probably a photo of that incident
Of me spinning around from 70 different angles
And this represents something that we learned in England
These are public places
So the scheme
Which is what they refer to these surveillance systems as
The scheme is managed by the railway
And thus to some degree the government
So it's implemented with probably a lot of money
And it's integrated
There are other systems
And we learned this as a part of researching
And doing a bit of the field production
That you know a small convenience store
Similar to what we would have here
Doesn't have an integrated system
It's not connected via a network or something like that
So in a train station you have the expectation
You can actually ask for copies of video
So I could, if I was a citizen
Or maybe even as a traveler
Request video of me spinning around counting cameras
Can you request 70 different...
That would be amazing if you could do that
But yeah I've heard from people
Remember this stuff we learned about this
I've heard from people in London that you can request
If you know that you're in a particular public space
And that you are on CCTV
Which is what they call the surveillance cameras
Or surveillance network
You can request that for whatever reason
I think they might be trying to cut down on that
Because so many people are requesting it
That maybe it's tying up their actual surveillance needs
Or they have to hire all kinds of new people
I would guarantee you
I would say that these settings
The system would almost certainly give you tape of some sort
Because it is integrated
And it's a public space
If it's a pizza place or something like that
It's like us going to a convenience store here
And asking a private citizen to hand us tapes
It may take a while
They may not be willing
And there may be reasons why
But in this place that system probably would work
And we learned the distinction
When we were moving about in England
And researching the schemes they have there
And one thing we really learned in London
Is that it's everywhere
It's very hard to avoid being on camera someplace
From one of these many, many public cameras
That are just fixated on lampposts
Inside buses, on trains, on street corners, in train stations
And folks, this is the future
Because the United States is looking at London and taking notes
And you're seeing more and more cameras popping up every place
And people are basically buying into the whole thing
That this is how you stay secure
This is how you stay safe
And I gotta say, you know, no disrespect to London
But it's not the safest city in the world
People don't feel secure there
It's like any big city where crime happens
And okay, you know what?
You can see maybe some video of the crime after it happens
But it sure doesn't prevent it
And I think that's something that we've learned
We focused on in this particular program time and time again
But boy, is it ever fascinating
And these pictures that appear in the surveillance calendar for 2013
Really demonstrate that
You know, we could spend
And Kyle, we're demonstrating this right now
We could spend so much time talking about every single photo
But you know, we haven't even started the year 2013 yet
Do you want to like breeze through a couple of them?
Because I really could talk about things we learned
And each of them in different ways
We sure could
Maybe we should have like an expanded version of the show
Where we just spend an hour on each photo
But well, let me just say
For the benefit of the listeners
Who want to support the radio station
And this is how you keep us on the air
By supporting the radio station
We will give you, for a pledge of merely $50
Two of these full-size calendars
Glossy photos and also historic happenings
On virtually every single day of the year in the hacker world
All kinds of amazing things
We'll focus on some other dates in a couple of minutes
You'll get that plus I believe 14 different pictures
You get the 12 months plus the last four months of 2012
And the covers
That's 14 separate photos taken by Kyle and Dave
Who are our staff photographers
And really did an amazing job of this year and for 2013
So $50 you'll get two of the autographed calendars
$212, $209, $295, $075
You'll get the calendars plus 15 surveillance related talks
From the Hackers on Planet Earth conferences
Which took place over the years
From 1994 until 2012
And are continuing into the future
For $125 you get the two autographed calendars
You get the 15 DVDs
I'm sorry, 15 talks, more DVDs
And you also get a handy spy pen
What you can record people moving around
You can record video
Technology has advanced to this stage
Where you can be Dick Tracy and walk around
And actually record people from your shirt pocket
It's that simple
That's a pledge of $125
You get all of that
$212, $209, $295, $0
And also for any of those pledging levels
You also get a membership in the station
Which gives you a voting voice
Which gives you their newsletter
And you can actually have a say
In how the station is run
So if you love the station enough
To take an active interest in it
Pledge for us
Pledge for WBAI
And become part of it
Absolutely
It's a really important thing to do
Now, okay, let's take a look at January 2013
And again, we're describing this on the radio
And we cannot do it justice
Unless you actually see it hanging up on your wall
It really is incredible
Very colorful shots
Very detailed shots
And this one in particular
Was taken at great personal risk
By Dave at JFK International Airport
You see people feeding a machine
Known as the InVision CTX X-ray scanner
And that's that machine that
You basically put all of your luggage inside
And they tell you if it's safe
There's just so much detail in here
What does that mean?
CTX X-ray scanner
You'd have to ask the people that made the machine
What that actually stands for
This is the thing that scans your luggage?
Yes
And where is this picture?
JFK Airport, but where at JFK?
It's right in the foyer
Or kind of right in the entranceway
Before you go to a ticketing counter
Right in between the ticketing counters
In that particular terminal
And you see two people there
Looking at luggage going through
Not looking at the camera
I mean, the picture being taken
It looks like an enormous
Like sausages or something
Coming out of this huge machine
I don't know
They're there to like catch it as spotters
And is it coming out or is it going in?
What's that?
Is it coming out or is it going in?
Which way is it going?
It could be going in actually
Yeah, that's true
You know what?
It has to be going in
But it's something I think
It would be overlooked
We see this so much
I mean, in that part of the airport
Even if you're just visiting
You don't have to actually be traveling
Yes
And you sort of
Don't pay attention to it
But this is where you go
When they say, you know
That you must have your
Luggage scanned before it's checked
And it's this behemoth of a machine
It's huge
It really is huge
And they say, you know
It cautions you
There's all these warnings
About the radiation and stuff
And it's just, you know
In this enormous area
Where all these people are milling around
They also warn you against taking pictures
But we did it anyway
And the picture can grace your walls
If you're daring enough
In January of 2013
And you'll see the InVision
I don't know if this is a serial number
Or the model number
C679
That's what's clearly written on the side of it
So that's
It is a good shot
It really is very, very colorful and detailed
My favorite thing about the shot they took
Is the fact that in the background
You can see a billboard for a hardware vendor
The slogan of which starts
Your business is your business
Of course, while these people are taking
A keen interest in everyone's business
Yes, your business is our business
I might as well say
Yes, go ahead, Kyle
Can you imagine going to somebody's house
And they have this in their front door?
That day is coming
Can you just put your bag and stuff through this?
We're stepping up security around here
Well, I mean, look at schools now
You have to go through metal detectors
To get into schools
You have nanny cams in everyone's home
It's getting to that stage
I don't think it's that far in the distance
And probably in some places in England
They're already doing it
But we'll hear from our listeners, I'm sure
Okay, so now let's move on to February
It's another Dave shot for February
And I like this shot too
Because it kind of mixes the paranoia of the present
And future with the paranoia of the past
It's a big surveillance camera
Kind of an old one, I would say
Because it's big and clunky
And it's weatherproof
It's weatherproof, for sure
And I think it's one of the kind that move around as well
And it's right above this sign
That many of us are familiar with
There are not that many around anymore
But it says fallout shelter in basement
So right away you have that whole Cold War thing
Where everybody had a bomb shelter
Because, well, the nukes are going to fall at some point
And right above that you got a surveillance camera
For all the crimes of the future that might be taking place
It's interesting that the in-basement part is a sticker
That's sort of added
That's like the local flair, you know
Hey, just in case, the fallout shelter is here
But locals will tell you it's in the basement
It's not upstairs
Well, because people go to the wrong place
If they don't know where it is
I imagine whoever it is that made up those bumper stickers
That say in-basement made a killing
Because what fallout shelter is not in the basement
Most of them are in the basement
So you have to stick those stickers pretty much everywhere
Where there's a question
It must be a trick sign
We can ask for the footage from the surveillance camera
And see who put that sticker there
I don't know if you can do that in the United States
Well, we can ask
We may not have a legal right to be told yes
But you can ask anyone for anything
Here's a legitimate question
What do fallout shelter signs look like in other countries?
Because they don't all look like that, obviously
That's United States fallout shelters
I don't know
I'm sure our listeners will probably help us with this
Because I know there are fallout shelters in other places
Is there fallout in other places?
Well, there will be
If people get angry enough and drop those bombs
So, okay, go ahead
There's a shot with the brick wall
And the sign is fading and rusting
And very, very, very cool
Good shot
Yes, absolutely
But now, let's move on to March
And we have one of your shots now, Kyle
Oh, yeah
This is the Bioscript device
Now, you want to tell us what that is and where you found it?
Yeah, I've seen it for years
Riding by this one particular area
So, I knew it was there
It struck me as like the sort of older model
Big and clunky
You know, a lot of these fingerprint scanning devices
Where you basically put your finger in it
It scans a biometric
Whether it's your finger or your, you know, eyes even
Now, it's just big and clunky
And has a huge armored enclosure with big gaskets
To keep the weather out
It just seems like totally overkill
But it's solid
And it's been there for years and years and years
So, I knew it was there
And I wrestled with it a bit
I was trying to get the photo just right
And eventually, I got a pretty sharp picture of the actual scanner
You see where you can put your finger and the different lights
And I guess it gives you the all clear
And it just was amazing details for the installation of this kind of thing
Well, something that we should make clear to the listeners
When you say you wrestled with the shot
Obviously, as a photographer, you have to get everything just right
But when you're taking a picture of a surveillance device like this
You also have to wrestle with
Are you going to get apprehended for daring to take this picture in the first place?
And I believe you had to stake it out for quite some time
Yeah, yeah
I made a couple trips and I think second or third time
I just basically didn't want to arouse suspicion
Because I had to run up to their front door
And it's cumbersome to pull out a camera
And to begin photographing
Especially if you're using flash
And I don't want to have it to be interrupted
I don't want to have the conversation where I have to explain what I'm doing
Which is perfectly, you know, sort of normal to say
Well, I'm interested in this thing
And I'm just taking a photo here really quick
And then I had to figure out because the door closed on one occasion
And I did, I was waiting for several people who were there
You know, on one of the attempts
And then when I finally got there, the door on the thing was closed
I had to figure out how to open it
And I don't know, I hope I didn't break it
But basically it was a lot of fun
Because I was sort of sitting there
Waiting for people to sort of get out of the area
So I could run in and get it quickly
It's the challenges of subversive photography for sure
And that's something that I think a lot of people will appreciate
It's a quarter after, you know
We're going to have to speed through these to get through them
But also I want to get some more calls coming in
We have one call on the line
I know we have room for about a dozen
And I think this is something that will be of great interest
To WBAI listeners and to Off The Hook listeners in particular
Surveillance calendars every single month
With a big glossy photo of something surveillance related
Plus hacker happenings, hacker history
On pretty much every single date of the year
And sometimes several of them on one particular date
It's the second hacker calendar
The first one was very well received
This one has a surveillance theme
And I think it's something that many, many people will be very interested in
I want to go over the next shot in particular for April 2013 in just a moment
But let's get some calls coming in
212-209-2950
$50 you get two calendars autographed by myself and the two photographers
Dave and Kyle
And for $75 you get the calendars plus 15 separate talks
From the Hope Conferences on the subject of surveillance
Yeah, we have a lot of talks on surveillance, that's for sure
For $125 you get all those
You get the talks, you get the calendars
And you get a really nifty spy pen that you can use for good or evil
It's really up to you
I want to tell you about one of the other talks that you'll get
One of the 15 talks that you get if you pledge $75 or above
Which is the talk from Nick Merrill who works at Calix
He was the recipient of a national security letter
That's a high honor, isn't it?
Yeah, yeah
And what's even higher of an honor is that he
He fought the government for years so that now he's able to tell us
That he was the recipient of a national security letter
What he's doing now and what he talks about in his talk
Is he's trying to create a privacy-protecting
Internet service provider and cell phone provider
So you will be able to become a customer of this entity
And make phone calls and use the internet without government surveillance
And he goes into great detail about how he's going to do that
It's, again, just one of 15 talks you'll get
You pledge $75 or above
If it's $125 or above, we'll include the spy pen
$50 or above, so both of those levels as well
You'll get two copies of the calendar that we've been talking about
202-209-2950
And with any pledge, even less than $50 if it's all you can afford
You get to help keep us on the air
Keep this radio station on the air
Keep this program on the air
Become a member of WBAI
And vote to control the direction of the station
You're the only reason we're on the air
Listeners calling in to support the station since 1960
That has kept the station on the air commercial-free
We could not talk about any of this if we had commercials
That is a fact
And WBAI is one of the most unique radio stations in the world
If not the most unique
Now, Rob, I notice in cartoon fashion
That your eyes are bugging out of your head
As you're gazing at the April 2013 photograph
That's one of Kyle's as well
Why don't you describe what you're looking at to us
Or what you think you're looking at?
I'm sorry, I've turned your mic on too
Indeed, to the untrained eye
This looks like a grassy field
With a couple of lethargic sheep doing their thing
Oh, I wouldn't say that
They were kind of lively, I think
They weren't lethargic
They were walking around
And Kyle must have photographed their good sides
But in the distance
There are all these strange sort of structures
That look like golf balls of various sizes
Attached to buildings
They just look like featureless white domes
And if I didn't know what these were
From talking to you guys about them
I would really be wondering what these were
So, Kyle, what these were?
I mean, what were those things?
Yeah, so in learning about the NSA
And what they do
We found out about various places in the world
Where they operate
And part of signals intelligence is collecting signals
And that comes in the form of radio waves
And they have places in the world
Where they monitor other people's communications
Around the world
But also get their own data
That's perhaps beamed from, like, the Thomas Building
Or, you know, sent over wires of some kind
And then sent to these locations
And they, in turn, send them somewhere else
At least these are some of the ideas I started thinking of
When we were actually around some of the facilities
We kept asking ourselves, what do they do?
Like, what does that one do?
What does this one do?
And the correct answer is they probably all do a lot
Yeah, they all do a lot
And they're covered up
So you don't know where they're pointing
That's why they look like golf balls
But they're not there to receive HBO
They're there to listen in on all kinds of sensitive things
Things that they're not supposed to listen
It's kind of all unauthorized access
But on an official level
Which is really kind of interesting
The place is called Menwith Hill
It's in the northern part of England
It's really a fascinating place
Kyle, we had one hell of an adventure getting up there
And not getting tailed by the cops
We actually found a very peaceful farm
To just sort of take pictures of
It was a little bit of a rodeo there for a bit
Absolutely, yes
But, you know, we were on our game
Yeah
We definitely did some great field production
And we're literally in a field with some sheep
And had a lot of fun and got a lot of great art
And I actually love this photo
Because it's so calm
And the sheep are just sort of happily
And that was the other thing
You got this quiet in these areas
That perhaps are the noisiest of places
I mean, you think of all the signals in general
And then all the encryption, too
I mean, there's a lot of noise going on in these places
But they're so quiet, you know
Yeah, and you know, there's a real side story to this
Which has to be told
And that's that, well, we were scared
We went up there
You know, you don't, you know, foreign country
We're going to the biggest listening post on earth
And we're trying not to get caught by the cops
There turned out to be lots of cops in that area
I guess they were sensitive to this
We had heard stories of these local grandmothers
Who were challenging the authorities
And regularly getting arrested
Just for taking pictures of their own neighborhood
So we knew that it was, the stakes were kind of high
But we found this one turnoff on the road
That just kind of went into a driveway
And, you know, I was driving at the time
We had rented a car
As if it wasn't stressful enough to drive on the wrong side of the road
We're trying to do all that
And not get caught by the cops
And find a good place where we could take pictures
So I pulled into this driveway
And right away, I knew it was a mistake
Because in front of us was a gate
You know, a closed gate
And basically we had agreed that we were going to
Turn around and back up and try something else
But then the most amazing thing happened
The gate opened
It just invited us in
And I remember saying to you, Kyle
I cannot turn down this invitation
We have to go in
Apparently they thought that we worked there
That's the amazing thing
It was a network operations center of some sort
And they actually opened the gate for us
And we just drove through there
And we kept going and wound up at that farm field
With the wonderful sheep that we gazed at for about an hour and a half
Yeah, that's absolutely how it happened
It was sort of local access only
And we were certainly communicating about
What types of journalism we wanted to do
And I was very much into covering this
And getting some great art
But I also wasn't into scaling fences or anything stupid
So when the gate did open for us
I definitely was like, are you sure?
And then he said, no, you went for it
We couldn't pass it up
And I thought, yeah, I was a little hesitant
But it made sense
I was worried that the gate wasn't going to open on the way out
And we'd be stuck there
But I thought it'd be more suspicious if I backed away when the gate opened
So I decided, yeah, I'll play the game
You know what?
We're not going to make it
Because it's seven minutes to the hour
And we're only up to April
But this gives you an idea of just how fascinating this calendar is
That we spend so much time talking about pictures on the radio
And this is your chance, listeners, to get to be a part of this
To get this calendar delivered right to you
You'll get two of them for a pledge of $50 to 212-209-2950
I just have a clarification
If you called previously and you were told that we were out of calendars
That was a mistake
We are not out of calendars
Call us back, 212-209-2950
Who is going around spreading misinformation?
Surveillance people, they stop at nothing, right?
I would imagine that's the case
All right, so there's NSA plants now inside our studios
I don't want to go that far
Well, I think you should go that far
Wow!
No, we're not out of calendars
We've got boxes of them
We do
212-209-2950
Give us a call if you called before and something strange happened
Give us a call if you didn't call yet
Because we only have about 5 minutes and 20 seconds left
And we have looks like three calls coming in
And we have room for a lot more
Now, again, to run down the pledge levels
$50, you get two of these amazing calendars for 2013
Filled with pictures, filled with hacker history
And signed by Kyle, one of our photographers
Dave, our other photographer
And yours truly, Emmanuel, who did most of the research
On all of the many, many dates of hacker things that went on
I think we were going to go over another date
Let's... why don't you guys pick a date while I go over the rest of the premiums
For $75, you will get the two hacker calendars
Plus 15 Hackers on Planet Earth talks in DVD format
Region free, so you can play them anywhere
DRM free, so you can copy them if you want
And those talks having to do with surveillance of one sort or another
That were presented at one of our conferences
And for a pledge of $125, you get the 15 talks
You get the two calendars
And you get a spy pen
A spy pen being something that not only can you take pictures with
You can take videos with
Yes, it's true
You can do that
You can have a little pen in your pocket
And you can record people
It's great for undercover recording of all sorts
And I just want to see what our listeners are able to get into with these amazing devices
212-209-2950
Join the four callers on the line now
And help us have a grand finale here
Again, these premiums are only available for the next five minutes
212-209-2950
Do you guys pick a date?
Yeah, May 1st is of course the date you should pick on this radio station
You do not note on the calendar that it's May Day
Which is a shame
But you do tell us that May 1st is when the EFF and Steve Jackson Games
Filed suit against the Secret Service in 1991
And May 1st is also the date that Hacker ISP Access For All
Was the first company, the first anybody in the Netherlands
To offer dial-up access
And that happened in 1993
And I'm just looking at this calendar
And the rest of May and the rest of the year is filled with other stuff
Just as much stuff
Yeah, and we mark as much as we can
We mark as much as we can
We'll try to add May Day if we can fit it in there
But there's so much
Some of the days are just completely chock full of information
212-209-2950
This is really the last chance for this hour to call in
And become a part of this amazing spectacle here
And of course if you're listening too late
If you're listening on an MP3 or something
Go to wbai.org
There are so many options for supporting us and supporting this station
You can be our BAI buddy
And email us for your BAI buddy benefits
And again, if you want to be a BAI buddy
Go to wbai.org and click on the BAI buddy icons
And to thank you, we will give you a couple of free tickets to what now, Rob?
To the Haunted House
John Huntington's Haunted House on Saturday the 27th in the evening
And that's in Brooklyn, right?
That's in Brooklyn
And I have it on good authority that John Huntington will also give
Off the Hook listeners a behind-the-scenes tour if they wish
Yes, but everybody who pledges through the BAI buddy system
Gets WBAI premiums of all sorts and our thanks
And again, if we reach the number of 20 by, say, the 24th
We'll be able to skip a show as far as doing fundraising
We'll do a normal show instead
All right, write to us, oth at 2600.com
Kyle, I want to thank you very much for joining us
Any final words?
Thanks for the opportunity
Definitely, people, call in for the pens and the calendars
And see the kinds of surveying that we're doing
And maybe do your own surveying, you know, pick up your own camera
And take pictures back at the world and, you know, hack that
Because the authorities and other people certainly are themselves
Absolutely, and hopefully someday we'll be able to go over
The remaining months of that calendar
We only made it up to April, but boy, there were some really, really good shots
In the remainder of the year
Thanks, Kyle
Thanks, everybody else, for joining in
Thanks, all the listeners, for calling in
212-209-295-0heroknight
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah
It's 8 o'clock here on WBAI New York 99.5 FM
Also streaming on the web at wbai.org
It's October the 3rd, 2012