Citizen Ex

Citizen Ex website

Where have you been online today? And what were your rights there? Download James Bridle’s plug-in to discover your digital citizenship.

Citizen Ex is a downloadable plug-in that explores how our online movements are changing our ‘citizenship’ – and our rights as citizens – from moment to moment.

The internet allows us to move freely from website to website without thinking about where in the world each site is registered, or how the different laws of their ‘home’ countries affect our own rights as users.

But in the digital world, where we are from is less important than what we do – and our decisions about where to go and who to talk to online have real-world implications that affect our legal rights.

Security services like GCHQ and the National Security Agency constantly monitor browsing data to assign citizenship to anonymous online users, and determine whether they can be surveyed. So as you use the internet, your citizenship and legal status can change constantly – and so can your rights.

Citizen Ex tracks your online movements against the physical places where websites are legally registered to show your real-time ‘algorithmic citizenship’, and how it has affected your rights during your time online.

Watch James Bridle explain the concept of ‘algorithmic citizenship’ and why it matters:

About this artist

Citizen Ex was co-commissioned by The Space and Southbank Centre. It was created by James Bridle, and launched at Southbank Centre’s Web We Want Festival on 29 May 2015.

James Bridle is a digital artist, writer and publisher based in London. His writing on literature, culture and networks has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, The New Statesman and The Guardian. He has exhibited artworks across the world, both on and offline, and regularly lectures at universities, conferences and events.