Far from being a purely immaterial entity, the Internet is an extremely complex physical structure composed by a massive number of actors that have a direct and deep impact in every aspect of our daily lives. Despite its crucial role in many aspects of our society, the material and computational architectures that allow the Internet to exist are widely ignored by most of its users. Thus, this research project seeks to critically reveal and analyse the complex network of agents that come together to configure the Internet, from submarine and underground cables to geopolitics, online tracking, surveillance and privacy. The investigation strongly focus on uncovering and analysing common online tracking practices used by major marketing and advertising corporations. To achieve this purpose, we developed several experimental methodologies and critical pedagogical strategies to forensically analyze the physical pathways of information, and apply reverse tracking methods aimed at drawing a map of the many corporations that covertly access and commodify our data.
Main topics covered in this research project: #Internet Physicality; #Geopolitics of the Internet;
#Algorithmic Governance; #Interface Politics; #Internet Backbone; #Data flows & Sustainability;
#Cognitive Capitalism; #Social Engineering; #Surveillance; #Online Tracking; #Data
Commodi fication; #Data Privacy.