I Spy

I'll have to admit that this week's Social Engineering Task was not difficult due to today's social norms. My task was to take a picture of a person's phone screen as they were texting, without them noticing. At first I thought of trying to do this to anyone, and ideally I would on the train since the crowd would give me reason to get a good angle on a phone screen. But in that situation my worry would not be about the target noticing me, but bystanders. Not only was I worried about their opinions on the matter but I was worried that someone might overreact and alert the target, or worse authority figures. This task was not worth getting into trouble for, and I was not about to explain that this was for a class (more worried about the future of this course).

Instead this became a task against my peers. In this age, having your phone out for either texting checking mail or changing your music was a common motion in everyday life. But even more surprising it's more likely when in a group for when one person checks their phone, others may do the same. So for me it was a matter of going through everyday life: friend takes out their phone and starts texting, I take out my phone and take a picture, pretending to change my music. Overall, easy. I considered crashing into my target to dramatize the task, but the photo would be blurry therefore it would have been unnecessary.