The Cabaret That Teaches You How To Subvert Government Spying.
In response to the outcry after the Snowden revelations, technology companies put strong encryption in messaging apps (like WhatsApp and Signal), so that intercepted messages could not be read by government spy agencies.
This clearly had an impact: on January 15 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron proposed banning apps that use strong encryption. On March 26 2017, in the wake of the Westminster attack, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it was “completely unacceptable” that the government could not read messages protected by end-to-end encryption.
The recent WikiLeaks “Vault 7” revelations, however, show that the spy agencies have responded to this situation by switching their attention to hacking the phone in your hand – effectively reading messages over your shoulder as you type them.
For privacy advocates, this is a big problem: all consumer technology can be hacked at the point of the screen or the keyboard, but we have to use technology to encrypt our messages.
Or do we?
SpokeEasy is a retro cabaret from a dystopian near future. A cast of fugitive reprobates offer to take their audience “back to a time when we spoke easy”. There’s dancing, singing (including a song based on Naomi Woolf’s famous 10-steps-to-fascism), nudity and swearing and free speech…
…and a magic trick. Which turns out to be a practical demonstration of how two people can communicate securely without using technology. All you need is pen and paper, and a pair of casino-quality dice – which you get free with every programme.
Everyone going to the show will leave with the skills to subvert government hacking and to communicate via coded messages that will never be broken. You never know when you might need it…
Event: Big In Parts Theatre Company presents SpokeEasy by Jozede Scrivener
Where: Sweet Dukebox, 3 Waterloo Street, Hove, East Sussex BN3 1AQ
When: May 18-24
Time: 9.45pm
Cost: Tickets £8.50 (£7)
To book tickets online, click here:
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