Tina LaPorta wrote:

It all started with a simple "go to" statement…

tina - 12:55pm Nov 25, 1997 EST

…P.S. Go see Digital Studies: http://www.altx.com/ds

bob - 02:22pm Nov 25, 1997 EST

Sorry Tina, but I don't liked being tracked by anything or anybody. Do
you want viewers or guinea pigs?

tina - 10:59am Nov 26, 1997 EST

I have no idea what you are saying…. tracked? guinea pig? Either you
are being really paranoid or are not very clear in what you are trying
to express.

bob - 03:22pm Nov 26, 1997 EST

Tina, I clicked on the link you provided and the first window that
appeared on my screen flashed: "Please wait, the machine is tracking
you." – then a bunch of colored data started jumping all over my
monitor; whereupon, I had (yes you are correct) paranoid visions of my
hard drive frying. (You must also realize that I was extremely abused by
film/video students in art school–they would trap us lowly painting
majors, and we would be forced to submit to their self-indulgent musings
for hours at a time. Usually the pieces were about boyfriends or
girlfriends or self-mutilation. The soundtracks were usually "Nights In
White Satin" or "2001-A Space Odyssey.") Please forgive my reluctance to
participate in digital experimentation. Nothing personal!

tina - 12:58pm Nov 27, 1997 EST

Let me explain, Digital Studies is a group exhibition with several
contributions by net.artists and writers. Select the text only version
and you can avoid all of the techno/wizardry.

+ + +

To this thread, alex galloway replied:

the "bunch of colored data" interface at DIGITAL STUDIES
(http://www.altx.com/ds then click on XXX) is simply a splash page
demonstrating certain concepts in the show–interactivity, netspace,
artificial life–and is not meant to threaten the security or privacy of
the user. it does not set a cookie, nor attempt to harvest private
information from you, but rather latches onto that most banal of network
data, your machine's IP address, to plot a geographic course (what's
called a traceroute) between the DIGITAL STUDIES server in Colorado and
wherever your machine happens to be in the world. you will see that the
address of each server/router used to transfer DIGITAL STUDIES to your
machine is displayed in progressive sequence at the top of your browser
window.

when the site says "Please wait, the machine is tracking you," it is
sending a network ping from the ALTX server to your machine, frisking
the net as it goes. each access of DIGITAL STUDIES by each user creates
a different relationship between machines.

as tina noted, the text only link (http://www.altx.com/ds then click on
X) will avoid this interface completely. either way, i hope you enjoy
the show!