The Institute for Applied Autonomy was an
activist group of anonymous artists known for employing technology in protest. The group focused on dissemination of knowledge,
autonomy, and methods of
self-determination through artistic expression and application of military-like technology to the topics of
Criminal Mischief
Mischief or malicious mischief is the name for a criminal offenses that is defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a legal differenti ...
,
decentralized systems and individual autonomy.
History
The Institute for Applied Autonomy was founded in 1998 as an informal research collective around the central theme of contestational robotics.
Its Mission statement was to "study the forces and structures which affect self-determination and to provide technologies which extend the autonomy of human activists."
Projects
One of its better known initiatives was
i-See, a decentralized
CCTV map distribution software containing user-generated data including positioning of
surveillance cameras
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, as well as several other international city centers, in protest of privacy violations on the general public.
In 2003 they took part in the Cartographic Congress organised by the
University of Openess in London
Their project
TXTMob, a registration system for
cell phones
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
to allow protest groups rapid, anonymous communication, was used during the
2004 Republican National Convention
The 2004 Republican National Convention took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The convention is one of a series of historic quadrennial meetings at which the Republican candidates fo ...
.
TXTMob allowed users to subscribe to groups of like-minded persons via a web interface. Once subscribed, messages sent to the group would be passed from the web to the group members' cell phones.
In February 2008, the New York City Law Department issued a subpoena directed to the programmer of TXTMob, asking him to reveal users of the service and contents of messages sent during the convention.
[Moynihan, Colin. (March 30, 2008)]
City Subpoenas Creator of Text Messaging Code
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. Accessed April 9, 2008.
Other IAA projects included the
Graffiti writer and Terminal air.
All IAA artwork has been
copyleft
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose ...
ed, with permission for use as long as it is attributed.
References
{{reflist
External links
Internet Archive record of the official Applied Autonomy website– (The original site is no longer active)
Anarchist organizations in the United States