#typographicobfuscation

Thesis: Typographic Obfuscation

This is a response to indiscriminate domestic data collection for Government & Corporate interests within CAN, USA, GBR, NZL, and AUS – otherwise known as the 'Five Eyes' intelligence network. There is a growing need for vernacular resistance to defend personal communication.

Areas of cryptography such as encryption, steganography, linguistics and obfuscation were explored. The main direction attempts to subvert existing typographic systems by deceiving technology through obfuscation tactics. Obfuscation has more disruptive and symbolic potential — it is low tech and accessible — than algorithm-based encryption, which is conventional, complicating, and expensive.

Through typographic obfuscation, O.C.R. (Optical Character Recognition) is denied, form is degraded, pattern is disrupted (through contextual alternates), and authoritative surveillance is deceived — as an act of concealment or evasion. The aim is to slow down 'big-data' through the disruption of pattern in day-to-day personal communication.