Illusionist at Spraakmakers Radio 1

Illusionist Jochem Nooyen about performance 'Privacy' at Spraakmakers on Radio 1

Packages that are sent before you have ordered or a supermarket that 'guess' that you are pregnant. Companies know more and more about us, because we share our data in exchange for 'free' services. Thought illusionist Jochem Nooyen makes a theater performance about privacy and uses his 'tricks' to show how easily we give up our secrets.

Jar of pickles betrays pregnancy

George Orwell described in the book 1984 how the government would know everything about us - even our thoughts. That doom image seems increasingly realistic now that companies can better estimate and predict our behavior based on our data, such as purchasing behavior and location data.

For example, a woman with a bonus card bought a jar of pickles. The changed buying behavior allowed the supermarket to 'guess' the woman's pregnancy, after which customer service decided to send a pregnancy package at home. The father unsuspectingly accepted the package, the woman was still living at home, and learned that his daughter was pregnant.

Google also knows how we are doing through our search behavior - for example through medical-related searches. Nooyen: "When you google, do you get an answer or do you give an answer?"

Fine print

Anyone who goes to Nooyen's performance agrees to share data and participate in experiments. That is stated in the fine print on the tickets. In the studio of Speech makers Nooyen gives a small demonstration of experiments that he uses:

Jochem Nooyen conducts three thought experiments in the studio.
https://www.nporadio1.nl/spraakmakers/onderwerpen/517104-illusionist-jochem-nooyen-over-voorstelling-privacy

Delivery before ordering

The online department store Amazon is already thinking a step further and bought a patent that allows it to deliver in anticipation. The company knows of a user that, for example, they first view a product five times and order it sixth time. Now they can and can send the package before you actually ordered.

“Privacy is the illusion of our time. Looking back in history, people often thought that they no longer had any privacy, but that can still be taken a step further. ” With his performance, Nooyen wants to make people aware of the data that they consciously or unconsciously share. "Data is the new gold and we are the miners who mine the data."