Monday, October 10, 7-9pm, Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 E. Oakland Park Ave.

Today’s program: screening of film “The Fear that Has 1000 Eyes: Cities in the Age of Terrorism”

London, Oklahoma, New York, Madrid, Oslo . . . Each terrorist attack has led to an increase in security: new laws, surveillance of individuals, trade and financial transactions, more cameras, biometric scanning, ever-expanding security architecture. In New York the attacks came by air, in London by subway and bus, in Madrid by train, in Oslo by car and boat. When will the next attack take place? Where and how will it happen?

We live in an “Age of Cities.” Small cities become bigger cities, and eventually big cities become mega-cities, metropolises. For now, security means security of the “public space.” Cameras, sensors and computers make this security possible, by observing every step we take and looking for deviations “from the norm.” But what is “the norm?” What is public, and what is private? And more importantly, who has access to all this data? Who, exactly, is watching and listening?

A data tsunami is coming. “Digital cities” now exist in parallel to our “real” cities. All of our urban spaces are now observed and monitored around the clock by military and security police. Are our most fundamental concepts of “freedom” and “privacy” about to change forever?

http://www.janson.com/rights/2013/09/16/the-fear-that-has-1000-eyes/