ABOUT

CONSENSUAL DOXXING

To provide a glimpse into how our seemingly mundane actions online might have adverse effects on our lives, this project examines the multitude of assumptions that could be made about any individual based on their personal online data, through the example of producing a data analysis based on an individual known as X who agreed for their online activities to be recorded over the course of a week.

Through this exploration and a complimentary deep dive into the issue, this project hopes to encourage a shift in mindset towards the need for more data privacy from consumers.

more about the designer: kiNLIN.XYZ
BEHIND THE ART DIRECTION
IMAGE TREATMENT
The visual direction began with the perspective of being viewed by machines, which inspired the bitmap treatment of images. To enhance the notion of losing your identity to what is being perceived by these entities, the glitching or sweeping effect was used to manipulate these images. 

As transparency or the need to present “things as they are” is a core motivation of the project, all images used in the project are lifted directly from the recorded footage during the data collection, which consists of screen recordings of the subject’s phone and laptop activities. 

These images are then further manipulated into collages to mimic the loose perceptions that data brokers have of their subjects, hinting their relation to corresponding inferences but not truly representing the truth.
COLOUR TREATMENT & MOUSE MOVEMENT
The overall dark visual tone of the project seeks to jolt these readers to the urgency of the message, with the dominant colour red used not only as a symbol of danger/threat, but also to guide readers to areas that require their attention.

Additionally, the constant trail of red attached to mouse movement is intentional to make readers more aware and weary of their journey across the website, where every move taken can’t be erased and is permanently etched into this online experience.
TYPE CHOICE
The display typeface, Sonic, was chosen as its movement-like extended forms embody how rapid digitisation has made it hard for consumers to see past customised conveniences, therefore requiring those who seek the truth to metaphorically put in effort to understand the message behind what is being presented.

The serif typeface, Cirka, was chosen to express the danger of being intimate and surrendering our identity and essentially ourselves to these entities, as all of this data exchange is being done with consent, whether fully understood or not.

The sans typeface, Neue Machina, was chosen to complement the display typeface, with its geometric features serving as a more legible representation of the robot or machinery aesthetic.
SCROLL
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Instinctually, we understand the need to protect intimate details about ourselves—our thoughts, experiences, conversations and plans—from dubious entities.

This innate need to protect our privacy becomes distorted when we welcome data collection through the endless range of connected devices that we own, as we often willingly provide ‘permissions’ to our private information for the sake of convenience in the form of personalised services.

As a result, consumers are mostly unaware of the full extent to which our data—private conversations, writings and purchases, diseases, relationships, mistakes and weaknesses—will be extracted, stored and traded between entities for an undisclosed period of time.

CONSENSUAL

doxxing

SURRENDERING PRIVACY FOR CONVENIENCE
A PROJECT ON DATA PRIVACY

To highlight this largely unrestricted breach of privacy through data collection, the project is split into three sections for readers to navigate consecutively.

01 - WHO IS X?
Utilising self-ethnography research to study the online activity of a real-life individual known as X across a week, the data collected was used to inform a speculative analysis in this section, aimed at discussing the multitude of inferences that can be deduced therein.

02 - THREAT OF ABSURDITY
This section examines the issue behind allowing such inferences to roam freely online as our digital selves by providing more real-life examples accompanied by opinions by data privacy experts.

03 - CASUAL VOYEURISM
Lastly, this section features the complete collection of data accumulated by X utilised in the speculative analysis, and is displayed here for readers to filter through and infer.

BEGIN HERE

WHO IS X?

This experimental project is best experienced on a desktop

THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING