With all of the discussion that has been pursued recently regarding the nature of surveillance in our modern technological state, it is worth revisiting this Surveillance Teach-In presentation at the Whitney Biennial in 2012.

There are some who think that concern about the nature and extent of the surveillance technologies, and the virtual unaccountability of those with access to them, is verging into paranoia. According to people like William Binney, who worked for the NSA for over three decades and was actually one of the key engineers who created these systems, we are not nearly wary enough, and awareness needs to be heightened in order to avoid descent into a total dystopia.

This video was created by award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, as she documents computer security expert and privacy advocate Jacob Appelbaum and National Security Agency whistle-blower Bill Binney as they present an artistic and practical commentary on living in our contemporary Panopticon.

Read more about Laura Poitras and her amazing life journey of a career, including her ongoing battles with the national surveillance state (effectively America’s political police), in this fascinating and thorough piece by Peter Maass in The New York Times.