-I arrive in Williamsburg to do some shopping. I packed light when I was moving here, knowing everything I took had to be brought on the subway. I hadn’t realized that the subway would be so smooth and easy in Zinmara, or I’d have brought more. - I didn’t eat before I came, so I enter a cafe, and grab a freshly squeezed lemonade in a bottle. - The building is a cube, with glass steps to it’s sliding front door, equipped with a small camera lens that you couldn’t make out unless you stared for a few seconds at it. There was no light showing you were being recorded though. The walls are made of clear glass on the outside, with a square mirror in the center of the room. This created a circle atmosphere. I guessed that the square mirror was less of an aesthetic structure and something to hide full length screens in to watch people. I brushed off the thought, thinking that I was being paranoid. - Although all I want in the store is the lemonade, I meander around with ease. - No security guards are here, but cameras litter the ceiling like googly eyes on paper. The store tries to mask it by covering the exterior of the technology with the same glass as what’s above it, as a camouflage. Unnoticed when just glancing around, I stare at the ceiling. A light turns on next to the lens, and I move along. I’m curious if it was recording the entire time, or if it was only when that light was on. I go to check out, and have my ID and finger ready. This store scans my ID photo, then scans my face with the same device instead of my finger. I exit quickly after paying. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ All of this facial recognition somewhat bothers me when it’s not by my own choice. Having it set up on my iPhone is an option that is mine alone. When I’m in Crown Heights, and seemingly anywhere in Zinmara, you can’t escape getting into the stores database. Many of my assumptions, such as the mirror hiding something to watch people, are based off of what surveillance features I’ve noticed so far in the area. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - Most of the stores I went into were the same as the rest, very high camera quantity, but no actual security guards. I found it strange that even if something was caught on camera, there would be no immediate response. I wondered what the response would be, and how far off a time it would be. I remember that I wanted to buy some newspapers to do some research when I got home. - As I walk along Fulton Street, I come across a stand where I can make my purchase. I pick up many different papers so that I can bring myself up to date with what’s happening in Zinmara, according to whoever ran these papers anyways. I buy them based on the covers.
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