We all know (or at least I hope we know by now) that our cell phones are spying on us. But I don’t think a lot of us quite understand just how much they’re doing it. I’m not sure how much this short film is going to do to change that, but it sure does make you stop and think. And if it makes you stop and think before you’re about to absentmindedly mash “I agree” on something next time, then perhaps it’s done its job.
Harvest” is a brilliantly chilling documentary short about the daily life of a woman named Jenni as seen through the voyeuristic perspective of her smartphone. Director Kevin Byrnes purposely gave the film a particularly ominous mood in making it appear as if the phone were a stalker lying in wait and watching every move with Jenni as its prey. In reality it’s the fine print of third party app location services that would actually allow her to be stalked in such a way.
During one week of filming in March 2016, Jenni’s phone transmitted her GPS coordinates 3,545 times to third party apps based on the fine print authorizations provided as part of her installation of common applications.
A Chilling Documentary About a Woman’s Life Told From the Voyeuristic Perspective of a Smartphone
