Thursday, September 19, 2013

The Art of Peeping and How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets Response

The Art of Peeping: Photography at the Limits of Privacy

I found this article to be quite thought provoking.  I completely agree that what Arne Svenson shot was legal.  He wasn’t shooting anything inappropriate and he wasn't trying to expose any of his neighbors.  If he shot his neighbors with the intentions of using them as examples of humanity then I do not see a problem.  I am however shocked that he won his case.  Now it seems all of our laws are taken so seriously no one can get anything creative done if it involves dealing with the general public.
             I really like this project and find it very reviling, not of the subjects but of humanity in general.  I personally feel the freest when I am completely alone and surrounded in privacy.  Taking photos of people while they experience complete privacy allows people to look at humanity and see what they do when they are completely free. 


How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets

            At first I found this article very difficult to follow.  Then as I got further into it I begin to see why we were asked to read this article along with The Art of Peeping in the same week.  While The Art of Peeping looks at surveillance as an art form How Laura Poltras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets looks at how the government abuses their power to survey the people.  Poltras is a filmmaker who was put on a do not fly list because of her work.  She was harassed every time she flew just because of a list she was on.  I find this to be ridiculous; I can’t even imagine how this could have gone on for as long as it did. 

            Our government was worried about her not because of what she was trying to do but because of what she was trying to expose.   Our country stands by the right to freedom of speech in theory.  Yet if anyone tries to expose the government they will be put on a list and harassed until they stop.  There is no freedom in this.  I enjoyed this article because it really opened my eyes to how controlling the government can be.   

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