Emil Kozole

Project “Seen”

Data
Project “Seen”
Courtesy of Emil Kozole
2015
Emil Kozole (Slovenia)
Website, prints

The Project “Seen” is a freely accessible font that redacts “hot words” by automatically crossing them out while they are typed. The idea for programming this custom-made typeface came in 2013, after Edward Snowden released documents that outlined the scale of mass-surveillance carried out by the U.S. government. Kozole’s program uses a preloaded set of trigger words that the NSA and other national security agencies target when scanning through our private online communications, such as Emails or Skype calls. It works by self-assuredly censoring words that are connected to content prone to surveillance, such as freedom, snow, or data, leaving your document smeared with bold, black lines. Project “Seen” is a typeface that reveals the interception and filtering of citizen’s private online communication by security agencies and brings their scrutinizing schemes directly onto your computer. With this project, Emil Kozole renders visible how quickly our online behavior can be interpreted as being suspicious, and a national threat.