Clickclickclick.click is a strange new website that makes its monitoring of your online activity visible to you. It shows just how much you are being monitored and on a continuous basis. In an age where big government monitoring and individual privacy are at the forefront of the minds of internet users, this website could make a huge difference. In fact, the US government just released a new software developed by Raytheon BBN dubbed "ACCENT," that they hope to use to increase activity in the research community. This software is supposedly a "state-of-the-art automated event coder capable of identifying nearly 300 types of socio-political events in text (news articles, blog posts, etc.).
What is it?
The website, which was developed by the Dutch companies VPRO and Studio Moniker, is fairly simple. The website is simply a white screen with a large green button. When you visit the site you will see it begin to monitor your online activity in great detail. If you turn on your audio you will here an English voice comment on your behavior online as well.
Roel Wouters, a Studio Moniker designer, said that big Data and privacy were the themes that the developers had hoped to remind the people about. Luna Maurer, another designer at Studio Moniker, said that even though she is quite internet aware, she is quite often still surprised when she immediately gets personalized ads after watching something on a website.
Online monitoring
This website makes it clearer than ever that it is extremely easy for the US government, big corporations, or any other entity with the means, to monitor your activity and to keep logs of such. With things like SMMS on the rise, anyone and everyone could be a target of governmental surveillance, with or without their knowledge or consent -- and with or without proof of wrongdoing.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), SMMS in particular can be aimed at anyone who may threaten the powers that be. History has shown that when surveillance increases, voices are silenced, and that is the last thing we need in the modern world.
