SLEEPERS

TECHNOLOGY IN THE HOME

Benign Friend or Malevolent Intruder?” 

A sleeper agent is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization not to undertake an immediate mission but to act as a potential asset if activated. ……..

This common use in fiction is directly related to and results from repeated instances of real-life ” sleeper agents” participating in spying, espionage, sedition, treason, and assassinations.

In this work, SLEEPERS, we have tried to illustrate the potential for all of us to become complacent about the technology we use at home by creating scenes of every-day life and introducing an “Alexa”* which may be helpful and benign, or maybe malevolent. The WFH laptop is playing a short series of slides of some of the research

and ideas behind the work. As a backing track to these scenes there is a selection of poems and music reflecting on the issues raised.

In keeping with the Cyber Eyes Wide Open Cyberfest / FUSE theme the work is a collaboration between artists and security industry professionals.

Uniquely Robert is both. The ceramic “Alexa” have been designed and created by Robert, Ian has written and performed the spoken word that you can hear and April and Beth have informed the ideas and the written words. We hope our work make you reflect on our dependency on the technology.

The North East is host to an annual technical “festival” organised by Dynamo North East and specifically Phil Jackman of Cyber North. For the last couple of years the festival has had a collaboration with Creative Fuse, which is itself a collaboration of several institutions in the North East. This year’s collaboration was called Cyber Eyes Wide Open and engaged several cyber security companies in the region and matched them with several artists with a task of creating artworks that represented ideas and concepts in and around the cyber security world.

I got involved, I think uniquely as having a foot in both camps and teamed up with several other artists including Ian Horn a poet who voiced the piece.

At The Breakfast Table

From When We Wake Up

We accept the smart speaker as a benign or helpful partner, listening to music, our favorite radio program or a podcast, perhaps while eating breakfast.

Using a ”Digital Assistant” to help plan our day or even write the shopping list means “they” rapidly know everything about you.

Working From Home

The Pandemic Response

Our working lives have changed over the past two years. One of the responses to the Covid-19 pandemic has made, or enabled many of us work from home from the dining room table.

But working from home puts the users outside of the security perimeter of the o ce environment and the business enterprise. When we make calls and discuss important details with customers and colleagues can we be sure that no one else is listening?

Relax At Home With The TV

We Watch But Who Is Listening?

With smart speakers and Alexa built into smart TVs the systems are capable of monitoring all our watching and listening.

Netflix or Amazon use algorithms to suggest what to watch based on our viewing habits or preferences but what else can they know about you?

To Sleep To Dream

We Switch Off But Do They Switch On?

We go to bed to sleep* but is our technology the real sleeper?

Some researchers fear a dystopian scenario in which smart speakers feed sleepers subliminal ads without their consent. “Dream incubation advertising is not some fun gimmick, but a slippery slope with real consequences,” To Sleep To Dream.

• Robert Campbell Ceramic Artist – www .firedclay.uk
  • Security Consultant Ecommnet Technologies Ltd.
• Ian Horn Poet and Author
• April Hollingworth Author
• Beth J Ross Author