Mischief Theory and Practise Part Two: ‘Deconstruction’
September 29, 2009
“Encouraging Destructiveness
It should be pointed out to the saboteur where the circumstances are suitable, that he is acting in self-defense against the enemy, or retaliating against the enemy for other acts of destruction. A reasonable amount of humor in the presentation of suggestions for simple sabotage will relax tensions of fear.”‘SIMPLE SABOTAGE FIELD MANUAL’
Office of Strategic Services
Washington, D. C.
17 January 1944
Existing within the urban environment necessitates an escalating war of resistance over un-requested invasive messages – the high science of communication or the blunt hammer of advertising: billboards, subway lcd screens, street advertising, point of sale, free papers, guerilla marketing, the subliminal, the liminal and the blatantly overt. ‘Everything that is made can be unmade’ – in this spirit we explore the tactical opportunities to degrade, disrupt and ultimately reclaim our space.
This video illustrates how advertising on the side of a NYC public phone box can be easily removed (or replaced with more interesting material) using readily available tools; a small cordless drill, a set of tamper-proof security bits and a healthy dose of bravado. The same tactics can be employed internationally against other types of apparatus; security cameras, police equipment, street advertising and commercial targets which all rely on ‘tamper proof’ construction to maintain integrity in a public space ( ‘tamper proof’ in reality means ’slightly harder to undo’). Tamper proof bolts can easily be removed if you have the correct non-standard bits, available here and elsewhere. As the video suggests, for extra mischievous effect, replace the bolts with a dab of superglue.
Image:’Tamper-Proof’ security bit head set (USA).
Traffic Hacking
The vulnerability of road traffic has long been a powerful tool for those planning maximum urban disruption. In London, the ecological cyclist group ‘critical mass’ challenge the tyranny of the internal combustion engine and bring the city of London to a regular standstill through mass cycle rallies. During the ‘Stop The City’ anti-capitalist protests of the mid 1980s traffic light cables were cut with bolt cutters during the night and bridges blocked by immobilised buses slowing down the arrival of the riot cops…
Back in the days of the ambulance station we were able to manually remotely control the traffic light signals on the Old Kent Rd – originally to allow the ambulances clear access to the street – a novel feature that gave hours of pleasure disrupting traffic on London’s main southern artery and allowing us to hold off police raids for a precious few minutes. Now you can accomplish the same effects by using a ‘MIRT’ – Moble InfraRed Transmitter Mirt “ a dashboard mounted device that gives an infrared strobe burst at 10-14hz designed to allow emergency vehicles to pass through Infra-red controlled lights:
image: BEECos MIRT
“A breakthrough technology in traffic light pre-emption. For the first time, a traffic light preemption emitter that is compact, mobile, and practical. “MIRT” can be securely positioned on the dash or inside windshield and moved from vehicle to vehicle with no installation required. Just plug it in and go! Its infrared technology emits no visible light, making it discrete and eliminating any distraction to the driver.”
Image: DIrtY MIRT LED Array
…or for around $20 you can build your own ‘DIrtY MIRT’ from a selection of parts available at Maplins. Comprehensive DIY instructions are here. An even cheaper, less subtle but proven method involves pointing flashing LED cycle lamps at the MIRT receiver or simply rapidly flashing car headlights while approaching the junction at high speed…
“Again, please do not use or abuse this. These Pre-Emptive systems were designed to save lives, not to get you to work earlier. Imagine if you and an ambulance were to approach the same intersection at the same time from perpendicular directions…”
Other traffic control systems are often vulnerable to mischievous intent. Famously those jokers at ihacked.com show how easily electronic traffic messaging displays can be edited ending up as national news across the states – just a shame the message wasn’t more targeted.
Shopping with barcodes
The ubiquitous barcode provides a physical link between objects and digital systems. They are used indiscriminately and insecurely for multiple purposes; entry systems, delivery tracking, pricing, ticketing, boarding passes and so-on often with little connection or checking between systems; a perfect target for those with mischievous intent. Barcodes can be simply copied (using a digital camera) and reproduced or read using a barcode scanner, edited and reproduced. barcode mayhem is a perfect way of disrupting the systems of your favourite supermarket (Tesco for example…) simply copy and print out low priced codes and replace them on multiple products or create a DIY BOGOF (‘buy one, get one free’) and help yourself safely to the single malt – if you do get caught, feign innocence and blame it on the system further introducing doubt and expense. FX from Phenoelit in this video tells you everything you need to know about barcode exploitation with some handy real-world examples:
Links:
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Mirts: http://www.themirt.com/
ihacked.com various hardware hacking prokects
NYC public ad campaign ‘New and Old Ad Takeovers’
the complete works of Shakespeare encoded as barcodes
Musical roads of the world.
January 19, 2009
Steen Krarup Jensen and Jakob Freud-Magnus building the Asphaltophone
how to be invisible
January 11, 2009
I’ve always been of the opinion that people over concerned with surveillance and data security are displaying the first stages of clinical paranoia. It’s well known, for those that care to look, that the UK police and military have in their possession technology which enables them to track individuals movements visually and electronically (think of google maps ++), trace your behaviour (spending, travelling, health, political persuasion), listen in to conversations and so-on – our only real defence against this intrusion has been the plod/MOD’s incompetence at cross referencing and interpreting the mass of data they’ve so carefully collated.
Britain is one of the world’s most surveyed society; It is estimated (2002 figures) that the United Kingdom is watched by over 4.2 million CCTV cameras. This equates to one camera for every fourteen people; each UK subject is recorded on average by up to three hundred cameras a day. Surveillance has become part of our lives; we’ve become used to accepting surveillance as a shield against crime and terrorism, sacrificing our privacy for the apparent greater good. However a recent trend is the movement of commercial organisation into the field of surveillance and “dataveillance” – using similar unregulated techniques and technologies global corporations are starting to watch you. Is it time to get paranoid?
Free wireless: A Geek-free guide to thieving wifi:
July 5, 2008
“They have monopolised everything that it is possible to monopolise; they have got the whole earth, the minerals in the earth and the streams that water the earth. The only reason they have not monopolised the daylight and the air is that it is not possible to do it. If it were possible to construct huge gasometers and to draw together and compress within them the whole of the atmosphere, it would have been done long ago, and we should have been compelled to work for them in order to get money to buy air to breathe.”
Robert Tressell ‘The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists’
A Geek-free guide to thieving wireless:
Everyone knows that ‘the best things in life are free’ so; here’s how to reclaim what was once designated as a junk frequency of the radio spectrum i.e. wifi/wireless 802.11#, and has now been commoditised by the likes of the monopolistic British Telecom. NB: This is intended as a laypersons’s practical guide to the art of wifi liberation and not an in-depth technical thesis on the subject. It’s also intended to stimulate debate and counter to the increased criminalisation of the practice. In the UK “Dishonestly obtaining free internet access is an offence under the Communications Act 2003 and a potential breach of the Computer Misuse Act” so here’s how it can be done:
