Minds of Concern

By ruthchenier on September 14th, 2009, 4:02 pm 1 Comments

Example of a website Knowbotics hacked.

Minds of Concern was part of the Knowbotic research, a group of artists who aimed to expose vunerbility and security flaws in NGO (non-goverment organization) websites. Minds of Concern was displayed in the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York where is was soon removed under threat of having internet access taken away.

Knowbotics used a “Public Domain Scanner” which allowed the artists to annoymously hack NGOs and highlight the security flaws of the website by using brightly coloured stickers, flashing lights and data projections. This showed the public all the ways certain websites could be hacked bringing awareness to the issue. Knowbotics said their goal was to “pinpoint the dilemma of NGOs and media artists having to protect an independent and progressive political and social practice through security measures which are constantly being tried, tested and attacked with ever new invasive tools.” (New Media Art)

However this was a very controversial project and the ISP (internet service provider) threatened to take away Knowbotics internet access if they continued so the Museum took down their work. It is ironic that most people view hacking as a negative practice, and yet when Knowbotics tried to show how easily it can be done that they were shut down.

Category: blog | Tags: hacking awareness knowbotics public domain scanner | Permalink: Minds of Concern