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The city is watching you. CCTV cameras track your movements.

ISPs record the web sites you visit. Police and governments might read your tweets -- or your emails. Your phone, your Oyster card and even your clothes might be disclosing information to chip-reading identity thieves. When the smart city takes an interest in your movements, how does the individual outsmart it?


This was the question Mark Shepard, former architect and fellow of New York's Eyebeam Arts and Technology Centre, had in mind when he created the Sentient City Survival Kit. The Kit, currently on show at the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival in Rotterdam, imagines street-level solutions for a near future of constant observation.

Shepard describes the kit as intended to "flirt with data algorithms" -- to retain some mystery and regain some power over monitoring technology. As we move through the city, we share information, often without even knowing it, with numerous systems -- CCTV setups, travelcard readers, mobile phone masts and many other digital spies.

Under(a)ware (pictured) is underwear designed to alert the wearer to RFID tag skimming by discreetly vibrating whenever they are scanned. The Ad Hoc (dark)

Roast Network hides a wireless mesh network in the base of travel coffee mugs, allowing commuters to create a temporary, train-sized network on their morning journey, exchanging short messages with each other using a screen set into the lid. Of course, this could be used for nefarious purposes -- but so could speech, or writing. Not every communication needs to go through official channels.

Sometimes, especially in a CCTV-choked city like London, it's not your electronic signals that are being watched, but you.

Cameras with night-vision capabilities can identify you and follow your movements. That's when the CCD-me-not Umbrella comes in handy. Its canopy is studded with infrared LED lights, activated by a button in the handle. Invisible to human eyes, they shine on night-vision CCD sensors like the sun, blinding the camera.


To round off the kit, <a href="/{localLink:17133}" title="Take a walk with the Serendipitor">Serendipitor</a> is a playful way to navigate your city. While regular mobile phone maps provide directions for the shortest route, Serendipitor rewards meandering and adventuring. At every turn of its turn-by-turn instructions, it gives you a mission, which may lead you off your chosen route. You'll still get where you need to go, but your journey might take unexpected turns.

Cities are getting smarter , and the Sentient City Survival Kit is a reminder that they may not always have our best interests at heart.

The Sentient City Survival Kit is on display at the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival exhibition, Rotterdam, until 3 June. Sentient City: Ubiquitous Computing, Architecture, and the Future of Urban Space is published by MIT Press.