RESISTING SURVEILLANCE COUNTER CONDUCT OF THE

INCARCERATEDJessa Lingel + Aram Sinnreich | June 2016

Incodification“The term “incarceration” effectively describes not only the direct physical experience of imprisonment but also the array of social conditions that derive from this experience … For groups of people who are continually held in suspicion by the police, such as young men of color, incarceration encompasses not only jail time and prison sentences, but an entire set of relationships between oppressed people and the legal system that extends far beyond prison walls. We aim to make an analogous argument for mass surveillance by introducing the term ‘incodification.’”

-Lingel, J., & Sinnreich, A. (2016). Incoded counter-conduct:

What the incarcerated can teach usabout resisting mass surveillance.

First Monday, 21 (5).

You are here Incarceration

You are hereIncodification

Incodification matters

Askesis and inscrutability

Askesis – “An exercise of self upon self by which one tries to work out, to transform one’s self and to attain a certain mode of being.” (Foucault)

Inscrutability – “Politics revolves around what is seen and what can be said about it, around who has the ability to see and the talent to speak.” (Rancière)

Hunger strikes and askesis

Media refusal as counter conduct

Politics of legibility

Alternative communication networks1. Argot Network Society

Equivalents • 1337• Geek-speak• TXTing language• LOLcats/dogespeak• Memetic slang

Alternative communication networks2. Tap Codes Network Society

Equivalent • Mesh networks

Alternative communication networks3. Textual Encryption Network Society

Equivalents • Digital Encryption

Alternative communication networks4. Smuggling

Network Society Equivalents • VPNs• Proxy servers• Steganography

Aesthetics of incodified counter-conduct

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jlingel@asc.upenn.com | jessalingel.tumblr.comaram@american.edu | aram.sinnreich.com | @aram

bit.ly/incodeICA