Angel: Now I am very happy to have you all here
for the next talk on a really important topic.
And we all called last year for
more creative campaigns on all our issues,
that we talk about here at congress.
And so the Peng! Collective thought about a
really creative campaign that also got
a lot of attention in the last year.
And because they call for all
the intelligence officers to really exit
their careers and to find some other
more valuable service to our society,
I'm very honoured to introduce
Gloria Spindle to you,
who is a former Google nest employee,
—You might remember that great campaign—
and will now present the "Intelexit" to you.
Thank you! Your Applause!
*applause*
*silence on the audio stream*
Gloria: Hello!
And hello to all the live streaming people out there as well.
Blubb blubb we can see you!
I hear they're a lot, maybe more than what's in this room.
All the lights are dimming.
Okay, so! I don't know if anyone else
is as interested in the parts
of the Snowdon documents as I am,
which are the kind of little cultural titbits that you find that give you a sense of
what it's like to be within the Secret Service.
I'm really kind of fascinated by this particular gentleman.
The SIGINT Philosopher, who was a columnist
for the NSA on the internal news letter
and he is really quite creative
and he writes a lot of pieces
about the ethical quandaries of working in the Secret Services.
And most of them end with just like:
"You should just like keep your head down and you should just keep doing
what you're supposed to be doing,
'cause that's the best way to go ahead and protect your county."
So this quote is really the kind of crux
of what the “Intelexit” Initiative is founded on.
We recognise that people who are working
in the Secret Services, and I'm sure
some of you in the audience tonight
are working in the Secret Services
— pretty certain there are some disgruntled, maybe unhappy,
maybe ethically confused people working in spy agencies,
maybe you're just a contractor
and you feel like: Oh I'm not so involved,
but I still feel like I have blood on my hands.
And those are the people that “Intelexit” is talking to.
*very mild applause*
That was like have a clap. I mean come on, people!
*applause*
Thank you! Thank you! Jesus!
Don't be afraid of clapping!
So those are the people that “Intelexit” is really talking to.
And we wanted to reach out to those people,
because there hasn't been a campaign yet that has actually recognised,
that they are humans working,
thousands and thousands of people
going every day to their surveillance jobs, operating drones
and even the people who are just
answering emails or you know pushing paper,
running the photocopy machine, if they even have those.
— Who knows what they have in there —
Those People, they are people who obviously
have ethical issues about working
in these systems
and feel responsible for mass surveillance,
drone warfare and the slow, maybe fast,
degradation of democracy as we know it.
So, introducing “Intelexit”!
*applause*
So what Intelexit does is
it's an initiative, a civil initiative
grounded in the idea that we need to find a way
to support people who want to leave
their jobs at the Secret Services
and we need to normalise the idea of quitting.
*applause*
Because actually it's a very just and
sometimes honourable thing to do,
just to follow your ethics and
give up your job,
if you don't feel like you're contributing to society in a good way.
*applause*
So that’s why Intelexit pitch.
Some of you might know:
I'm from Peng! as it was introduced earlier
and we are known for our hoaxes
and our media hacks and our culture jamming.
So intelexit is been a really, really interesting campaign for us
and I’ll explain it as I go.
Because of course you see it's a bit of
performance and it's a bit of humour
but it's also very serious at the same time.
So, just to introduce Peng! to you,
for those who don't know.
Here we were... this was at re:publica
impersonating Google managers and
presenting some really creepy,
data collecting products.
A personal drone for daily life,
an app that monitors your well-being, emotional well being,
and matches you with other people who also need a hug
and creepy thing about that is most
of this distopian visions have now actually
come to light and are existing
in the real world today.
Actually people do use drones to follow their children to school.
That's a real thing.
So and here we are impersonating the leading party of Germany
and here we are in live television, cracking an egg over the head of a presenter
of a very dodgy television program
and this was our program to self....
provide self help for trolls, sexist trolls on twitter
and that was our self help coach.
We had a bot army which was analyse...
we had a language analysis happening on twitter
and then we had an army of 160 bots
which were going out and enrolling trolls
on twitter into our self help program
and sending them nice inspirational videos
every day to help cure them.
*applause*
So as you can see we have a...
we utilise a range of tactics and techniques
in what we call campaigning.
Some people call it art, some people call it theatre,
some people call it a joke, some call it entertainment,
but we see it as campaigning and what we are constantly trying to do
is to shift the narrative. We look at...
shift the narrative around various social justice issues.
We look at issues we think that really need
a kind of different spin happening in the media
and we take them and find a way to reframe them and then we push them out
and hope that we get a lot of attention.
So we started looking at the issue of
surveillance and the Secret Services.
And, well, quickly one runs into the obstacle
of how do you talk about this.
Like we have this clichés of, you know,
the eye and, you know, Edward Snowden’s face
and we have these visuals that kind of
don't really mean anything anymore
and everyone really struggles to actually understand
what the issue means and how do we talk about
the Secret Services, when they're completely inaccessible to us?
So this a photo, for example, of the regulations
for taking photographs at Fort Meade.
You see, you’re not really allowed to take photographs of the buildings.
So if you start with that as a kind of metaphor
for the inaccessibility of the Secret Services
to our general culture.
We don't even have visuals for them.
We've got like one photo of the NSA that floats around the internet
and just gets repurposed and repurposed.
We can't access these people,
we can't access their structures, we can't access their information.
Yes we have leaks now, but how do we actually open it up more?
And that was the question, we kept asking ourselves.
You've got this issue of intangibility
and then you also got the issue that
everything is so secret.
I mean even if a Christmas card is sent internally in the NSA,
it's classified as top secret.
Then you've got technology which is so complicated
the general public can't understand it
and it's like all these acronyms and these
weird flow charts and bad design
and it's just really complicated.
And then of course there is fear.
And Fear is really crippling for activists
like ourselves, for civil society. It is really difficult.
We don't want to broach this issue.
We don't want to step into it,
because it's scary, because once you step into it,
it means that you are a target, of course.
And also, funny enough, fear is also the way
the narrative is often shaped.
This is what we use, to try and raise awareness
about surveillance. We make people afraid.
We, you know, we talk about this invincible,
dark danger of surveillance creeping in on us.
No one knows, if they’re being watched or not.
And this, we think, is a narrative that really needs to be shifted.
So we wanted to find a way to bring hope,
to bring a positive image to this narrative
and also to bring it down to humans
like not to talk about technology,
not to talk about these dark and complex systems
but to talk about the people
and talk to the people who are upholding these structures.
So this is what we came up with:
off-voice from video: Right now, thousands of people work
in the shadows of the intelligence community.
They don't ask questions.
They follow orders.
Keep their heads down,
do their work.
But what happens, when you see something you can't forget?
And you realise that the system you are
part of is chipping away our democracy
every hour, every day.
You feel stuck, overwhelmed.
Some people have already made the decision to leave.
Others are thinking about it every day.
Intelexit helps people break free from the intelligence community
and build a new life.
You expose yourself within the system,
you ultimately end up being forced out of the system.
I remember confronting my immediate supervisor
the number 3 person: What are we doing?
We are violating the constitution!
– Many Secret Service employees are disillusioned.
– Why are we taking equipment
—it is traditionally for foreign facing, outward facing—
and we're now instrumenting our networks
within the United States of America?
- If you're surveilling the population, you're all on the same side.
Right? You want all the data and you want to talk to people who have the most data.
So the NSA is a nexus of surveillance for the world.
– It's what ever you can get away with.
That was part of the "game".
And whatever would serve as the interest of "national security".
– When one is forced to act against one's moral values, they can experience
extreme levels of what we call cognitive dissonance.
– I was radioactive because I'm questioning what are we doing.
Where do you then go? Where does your life then …
Where do you recreate your life?
– What Intelexit does is help individuals
transition from the world on the inside
to the world on the outside.
– The more you can move from the inside to the outside,
the better you'll integrate into the real world.
– What is really great about Intelexit is that it helps people to confront their fears.
– So take it from me:
If you're looking to get out, try Intelexit!
– Be smart. Exit intelligence now.
*roaring applause*
I was really impressed with Bruce Schneier there.
Bruce Schneier is just amazing without end.
I mean, who knew he had those talents?
Someone take him to acting school.
Like, it's amazing!
Okay, so then we made the video,
but of course we knew, we know that the people that we are talking to
the spies, are some of the most introverted people in the world.
And probably some of them the people
most stuck in a filter bubble in the world.
So we knew we had to kind of take our preach further
and we had to go to where they are.
So you know we thought big and we pretended
we just forgot about that we didn't really have a budget.
And so we just hired a van. Because that's what you do.
So we just hired this van and drove around
Fort Meade and the NSA buildings,
tried as much as we could to get as close as possible to them as we could.
*applause*
So this is outside Lockheed Martin
on a national business parkway.
The main area of all the NSA contractors
and they are really best friend with the NSA and now they started making drones as well.
They’ve been supplying technology to the military and the CIA and NSA forever.
So that’s us parked outside there, giving them a strong moral punch
with the slogan.
And then we went to one of the most popular
cafes where NSA officers and contractors like to go for lunch.
This Café JOE. And we parked out there
during lunch time as well.
*applause*
And then of course, because you can't talk
about the Secret Services in one country without talking about the other ones,
'cause they are all in bed with each other,
we of course had to go to the UK as well.
So here we are outside the "Donut" and this is us trying …
okay, to be honest *laughing*
that's trying to hand out flyer, brochures to the people.
Like that was our plan.
We were gonna hand them out to the employees on their way to work.
And they were just like *imitates engine roar* they had, like, been briefed..
or I don't know. They were just ignoring us.
And also maybe we didn't brief that guy
very well on what to dress as an Intelexit ambassador.
And then we hit all the … *laughter in the audience*
applause
This is outside the Dagger Complex in Germany.
One of the lesser known spots for the NSA
where they kind of have a central hub
for the signal's intelligence gathering in Europe,
it's been written about in the Spiegel.
Very secret, very difficult to get there as well.
And there we are, again, from the other side.
And that is the antenna from the Dagger Complex.
And then we also went to Wiesbaden,
which is the traditional home of the US military in Germany
And the Clay Kaserne Building!
This is where supposedly, forthcoming
is going to be one of the NSA’s biggest buildings
and operations in Europe, also all very secret.
No one knows what's going on.
And then we went to the US Embassy in Berlin.
And this for non German speakers just says:
"Enough with paranoia!"
This is why we had the like dadaistic pineapple on there.
"We’re helping you to get out of the Secret Services!"
And then we went to the German Secret Services as well.
This is there new office block, the Bundesnachrichtendienst
*applause*
and we also went to the old offices, just in case.
*laughter and applause*
And then we went to … —we did a lot in a week—
we went to the Verfassungsschutz which is
the domestic intelligence in Germany.
And this is located in Köln, to remind them about
—so the Verfassungsschutz actually stands for roughly translated in English is:
Protectors of the constitution—
and in order to remind them about the constitution
we stuck the constitution on their wall there.
*applause*
And then there they are ripping it up.
This was like a dream we had for a very long time
and finally we have realized it. *laughing*
And then we thought we take a bigger step...
*music*
*laughter in the audience*
*music*
*applause in the audience*
According to sources, Intelexit website
was blocked on the internal network after that dropped.
So that was our week and that was Intelexit.
And I just want to share a few learnings with you,
because it was a very interesting campaign for us
and one of a kind, really.
So I think the first thing on a very kind of
just basic level is that it is possible
to talk about this issue without creating fear,
without making everyone, you know,
really worried about their information
and the data and their general feeling of well-being.
There is a way of kind of shift the narrative
and look more at the outside and stop
holding the defensive.
Okay, then second thing is that
they are just as good in faking as we are.
This was the response from the GCHQ to a
journalist question for an article about Intelexit, which is amazing,
because they basically just said that they don’t do
anything unlawful and they actively encourage
staff to discuss any concerns that they have
inside, which we all know is not true.
And they also they really pride themselves
on the structures they have in place to support this.
So I think this was the biggest surprise for us.
Like we are always dealing in this kind of
projecting of either utopias or distopias
out into the world
and sometimes when you have a vision
and you project something out,
actually it kind of turns into reality.
And that's what happened.
You know, we played this line of
yes it's sort of a fake, but at the same time
we really mean what we’re putting out here.
Yes, we actually think there should be an Intelexit Foundation created.
And there should be loads of money
flowing in for people who want to get out.
And there should be a civil way to exit.
*applause*
But, you know, what can we do?
We're just like a small art collective
in Berlin. You know.
We can make a big wave, but we're
quite limited on our resources.
But actually we got responses,
we got people coming to us
and that was a real surprise
and we realised we have a lot of responsibility, too.
And so, this is the other learning that
there is no clear line between insanity and reality.
So you kind of constantly, when you get
people contacting you this like,
of course you get people who think that
they are pursued by the CIA
or think that they used to work at the secret service
and then there is people who talk to aliens
and these kinds of things
and then you get people with really legitimate stories
and there is a kind of constant balance
and we really had to learn how to
assess these.
And luckily we had amazing support from
investigative journalists, particularly from
whistle-blower platforms who have experience
with this and help us.
But that's just part of the game.
Okay, I think this is our other learning,
that we realised, that
at the end of this week,
there really is a need for this.
There is a need to respond to kind of
discourse that's out there
and create a new one
and then there is also really a need to
provide this kind of support and
actually reach out to people who are
trapped in these structures and want to get out.
So we've been working really hard and trying
to build up networks of support with people
who have legal skills,
who have psychological training
and who can also help, if people want to
get out and leak or blow the whistle,
who can help with that.
So we kind of at the moment when people come
we are trying to direct them to the right resources.
Because of cause we're not
a whistle blowing platform.
And we are not a legal organisation,
so we can't provide a lot of things,
but we have good networks and we can try
and connect people with them.
So what's coming next?
We are trying to build up our infrastructure
so that people can actually have a very secure way
to contact us.
We are building up this network of support
and we want to create a list of future
employers for people who actually do leave
the secret services so that they can find
places to get jobs afterwards.
And we want to continue doing more
outreach and more campaigning on this issue
and I think that that is our main goal.
applause
That's a safe within a safe,
which is now part of our kind of secure
infrastructure in our offices,
thanks to the support of very experienced
and knowledgeable expert people
who can help us set up the kind of
the best way for people to kind of
to enter the risk assessment to enter the
best means of communicating with us.
And then on our outreach plans
we really want to create a way to talk to
people who're working in the secret services
for an every day person in this audience
or on the stage just to call up the NSA
or the BND or the GCHQ and get through
to someone who is sitting in their office
on their phone and have a conversation
with them like callcenter-style.
You know like: How are you doing today?
Can we talk about your job?
How do you feel about working at the
secret services?
We want to create an anonymous reaching
system for someone to call completely
anonymously to a set of numbers
which we can't reveal the source of
and to reach out to these people.
So of course we need support and help.
And these are all the things you can help us with.
If you got skills, we need all kinds of skills,
we need skills to build up this call center
operation of ours, so that people can actually
anonymously call and we can have something
that is very exciting and we can premier at
events.
So that you can actually have
call center operations on stage calling up
doing it live.
And then we also need people who will
translate our materials.
We would like to get them into other
languages, we only have English and German atm.
And we would like to kind of reach out more
internationally.
And if you've got connections,
well that's also always good,
if you've got people who are lawyers,
who have experience working with people
who are either in trauma or
people who have been in the secret service
for example.
Legal skills, psychological skills,
journalists - we need all those kinds of
connections in different jurisdictions.
We are pretty well set up in Berlin and
in Germany, but we really need help
in the UK and the US as well for now.
And then if you've got ideas for outreach
for new actions we are also really open
to hearing those.
We've got the call center idea at the moment.
Calling up the spies.
We want new ideas and if you know people
who are working there just have that
conversation with them.
Just start a conversation about you know,
ethics of the workplace.
applause
And now... the big question...
And I even do that to say how important it is.
If you like Peng!'s work we are not ashamed
any more. We were ashamed for a long time
to ask for money,
but we're not ashamed any more.
We live of idealism alone, people,
and we need help to keep our actions going!
This year I think we did 6 actions or something
really large campaigns and we need help to
kind of support our infrastructure,
to support our staff,
to support our projects more than anything,
so that we can keep on doing what we are doing.
So we've developed a way for you to become
a monkey donator which I highly recommend
great feelings of positivity and love will
travel with you for many years after
you have done this.
Mother Theresa said:
If you can't feed a hundred penguins,
then just feed one."
So, feed one of us!
Even if it's just like the pinky finger of
one of us and sign up for a year to
keep seeing great action coming out
from Peng!
And that's me.
And we've got one more thing,
surprise! Where are you? Hello!
So we have one other way to donate,
which is that you can buy one of the
awesome Intelexit T-shirts,
which Paul is gonna come here and model
for us quickly.
*laughing and applause*
And there's a run for your life!
That's the kind of lame one...
but these ones are cool!
Thank you!
Are we meeting afterwards?
I think we're going to have...
We don't have time for questions
and answers now.
But we really want to get feedback
from people.
I think there is an IRC Chat or Radio happening,
but if people want to come we're going
to meet.
Where are we meeting?
In front!
*laughing*
Of this huge hall.
Can someone give me a location,
I only got here today...
Can you give us a location?
Herald: Okay, So it's sensible to meet
at the tea tent I suppose.
Gloria: Tea tent!
In 15 minutes!
Herald: In front of hall 2, there is a big tea tent,
where you get tea, where you also
meet many other people who are working
in this direction therefore, right?
Gloria: Yes!
Herald: And I have one question still,
because you told we can support on the Internet
is there also a way to donate anonymously?
Gloria: Well, you can donate with bitcoin
or you can just give us cash.
Herald: Everybody, big piles of cash,
bring them here!
Gloria: Not saying no to cash...
Herald: Thank you, Gloria!
Gloria: Ah, they got a bag!
Herald: And there is a bag for cash!
*laughing*
Gloria: You can put it in very anonymously here.
*laughing*
Herald: Bring your blocking for your face
if you really want to be anonymous.
Thank you, Gloria!
Everybody who wants to come,
please go to the tea tent!
*applause*
*music*