Leaky Apps and Data Shots: Leakage and Insertion in NSA-surveillance

The NSA disclosures have put the issue of surveillance at center stage, and with that, a range of technologies by which data are captured. This article aims to break up devices for data collection by discussing devices that leak data versus devices that are inserted into computers or networks in order to capture data. Taking a post-Foucauldian trajectory within surveillance theory as a point of reference, in which conceptual frameworks tended to emphasize data bodies and data flows, this article argues that the leaks potentially open new conceptual repertoires and research sites. Amongst other things, we might want to start focusing on devices that ‘get close’.