GoKawiilA walking tour of surveillance infrastructure in Seattle
Note: this guide is a work in progress and may change at any time! We’ve done our best to cite our sources, but this page has not been professionally fact-checked.
This workshop was first run as part of two pilot workshops with the Tech Equity Coalition, in partnership with the ACLU of Washington, in October 2019. A zine based on this work was included at the CtrlZ.AI zine fair and the HOT MESS digital exhibition in 2020.
Introduction
In this tour of downtown Seattle, we’ll practice spotting some of the layers of the “smart” city that are hidden in plain sight, collecting and storing data about our lives, as well as the kinds of thinking that justify their existence. Each surveillance technology in our field guide includes the following categories to help you “spot” surveillance technology in the wild: Address, Appearance, What it does, How the tech works, Social importance, Discussion and finally, References.
Tour route
This is the route we will be taking on the walking tour. Click on each stop to pop up its location, and feel free to explore it on Google Maps, e.g. with Street View. The route spans 1.3 miles. Below, we outline each of the surveillance tools/sites listed above.
Surveillance cameras
Address: Practically everywhere, but the above example is at 523 Union St.
Surveillance camera hotspots (red = more likely)
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