Rene Franco

Proposal for an Empathetic Surveillance State Rene Franco

The world we wake in tomorrow may no longer resemble its familiar form. And should the dust of the ensuing chaos of all these events settle we would still be involved in a deeply troubling relationship with the tools of mass surveillance. The prose-poems, short fiction, and photo essays contained in Proposals for an Empathetic Surveillance State build, phrase by phrase with anxious precision, an immersive narrative set against the backdrop of our contemporary political landscape. Beneath this story of a young hacker's rise to prominence lies a sharp critique of the voyeuristic tendencies of our age where we sacrifice, knowingly or unknowingly, our most private details to the altar of social media and national security. As each thread of the story weaves and connects in thrilling, unexpected ways, the true cost of our demand for transparency is revealed.