Sometime post-9/11 the FBI turned its attention to Elahi, apparently because he had rented a storage space in Florida and because, he surmises, his name may have seemed “Middle Eastern” to the FBI. He underwent a series of interrogations with FBI agents until they concluded that he posed no threat to national security. This experience inspired his ongoing life art project. It doesn't threaten, but it certainly challenges assumptions we make about our personal security and how it relates to privacy.

As the FBI investigated him and sought more and more information about him, he in effect co-opted their work (but not until after they informed him he was cleared). He has not installed a Web cam in his bedroom; but he has made his life even more visible to any and all on his Web site through his “tracking transience” project.

Its most obvious feature is an aerial view festooned with a blinking red arrow pointing at his current location. It was a bit eerie to see this red arrow blinking above and pointing at the building in which we were sitting and listening to him. Little wonder some of his friends insist on seeing him at his place rather than in their homes. (This afternoon, by the way, he is southeast of Williamsport, PA.) Elahi also offers photos of the airline meals he has been served. (He does a lot of long-distance international travel, perhaps another thing that the FBI considered suspicious. They still serve meals on those flights!) His itemized credit card statements are on his Web site. And more–all absolutely voluntarily!

When you use a debit or credit card, when you use your cell phone, when you use a hotel rewards program card or a frequent flyer program card, when you use your grocery store discount card, you leave a digital trail of evidence about yourself. Elahi has consolidated much of this information about himself, just as the FBI undoubtedly did. But he has made it public. He refers to it as his “media ankle bracelet.”

Elahi says that if all of us made all of this individual information freely available, there would be no need for government surveillance. That is a paradox I haven't quite comprehended yet.

I asked him what would happen if he suddenly quit posting this detailed record about himself. He said it would probably be a sign that he had been spirited off to Guantanamo. By maintaining his media ankle bracelet, he affirms his freedom and assures friends and family that he is wherever the bracelet says he is.