The Pirate Box is the creation of NYU art professor David Darts. In the tradition of pirate radio and the Free Culture movement, the Pirate Box is a self-contained mobile communication and file sharing device that allows users to chat and share files anonymously. When in range, the Pirate Box can be accessed with any WiFi enabled device. The Box keeps no logs of any kind and is not connected to the internet for privacy(and most likely piracy) concerns. Dart’s project takes aim at the misleading connection between stealing and sharing that has come as a result of the difficulty between determining a corporate and private use on the internet. One might also take note of the Pirate Box’s injection of privacy back into the digital environment. In a world where ones digital activities are logged in any number of ways, and for all sorts of reasons, the Pirate Box’s network is like a rest stop where one can have a breather and freely converse.
Other artists have also recognized the need to create alternate forms of community square like settings, with a digital twist. Aram Barthholl’s Dead Drops are a loose network of USB drives that have been cemented into walls. Promoting users to go to a physical space to share information. One cannot not what is on, or what has been left on Barthholl’s USB drives, making it open, but slightly dangerous, much like walking down any city street. This is in opposition to the many online “walled-Gardens.”
Currently Being Shared of Dart’s Box
For more on the Pirate Box see Darts Wiki and read the Ars Technica Article
Note: Thanks for the head ups Luke Simcoe
