The dead drop: USB drives a new trend in the art of spying
SCMP's espionage and covert ops expert Charley Lanyon risks it all to uncover the truth
Above: Watch SCMP reporter explore dead drops in Hong Kong
There was a time when Hong Kong was a hotbed of spies: during the Cold War undercover agents from America, China, Britain and Russia were active here. Those days are over, but for Hong Kong’s espionage enthusiasts there is a new reason for some old-school spycraft: art.
Over the past five years, Berlin-based artist Aram Bartholl has reinvented the dead drop, for an ongoing global art project.
On his website, Bartholl describes the project as an “anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space,” and explains that he started it when he was artist in residence at the art and technology centre Eyebeam in Brooklyn, New York in 2010.
He hid five USB thumb drives around New York City, often embedded in concrete walls or curbs with just the tip sticking out. The idea was for people to plug the bit of the USB sticking out of the wall into their laptops and find... well, just about anything. Each drive started out with just an explanation about the project, encouraging people to take or leave whatever files they chose. He also posted instructions on how to install their own dead drops on his website. The rest was up to the public, and they took to it avidly.