NSA Self Portrait

Using the communication protocol outlined by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Program (SETI), I attempt communication with the NSA's PRISM apparatus by uploading a binary image of myself to the NSA's webserver repeatedly.

A video of the project in action. It was exhibited at the Roosevelt House in Manhattan.

Technical details:

The Arecibo Message is something that SETI broadcasts into the stars via a very large satellite system. To create the "image" that is the Arecibo Message, they devised a plan to broadcast pulses of high energy at specific intervals. This is not unlike Morse code, which uses a series of dashes and dots. Likewise, the Arecibo Message uses ones and zeros, which are represented by either energy beams or the absence thereof. To create a binary image (black and white, if you will) you simply broadcast energy for one color, and broadcast nothing for the other. By using prime numbers to generate the dimensions of the image we assume that intelligent beings with the requisite technology would decipher the message. But will the NSA? This project was written in BASH.

The original image after a quick threshold and crop.

The image after being converted to the proper dimensions for SETI-based transmission.

A colorized version of the Arecibo Message.