No one, least of all founder Peter McIndoe himself, could have imagined that the Birds Aren’t Real movement, initially started as a prank on protesters, would escalate into a nationwide conspiracy theory with thousands of members, aptly named “Bird-Truthers.” McIndoe urges American citizens to “wake up” and accept the appalling truth: under the Reagan administration, all of America’s avian species had been replaced by government surveillance drones to spy on the public. The concept is laughable, and intentionally so. Unlike most conspiracy theories, the Birds Aren’t Real movement is purposefully satire, meant to mock conspiracists and the concept of fake news.
While Birds Aren’t Real is a staple of Gen Z’s humor and perfect example of satire, a layer of truth lies beneath the humor.
Birds are real, and so is government surveillance.
Government surveillance initially began with The Patriot Act in 2001, which gave the US government the authority to monitor civilian communications, emails, phone calls and financial transactions in order to root out terrorists. A new private industry rose to collect and sell personal data for profit, creating a wire-tapper’s market as hundreds of companies created software to gather information and hack smartphones. Years later, in 2013, Edward Snowden, a computer intelligence consultant with the National Security Agency (NSA), leaked classified information about US global surveillance programs, sparking outrage and fear across the globe by revealing the invasive surveillance of US citizens and global political leaders.
Nine years later and this private data-collecting market is still thriving, unregulated by the government and widely ignored by the American public.
If you bring up government surveillance in a conversation, you’re typically met with preconceived skepticism and dismissed as absurd or paranoid. It’s why we’re entertained by the absurdity of the obviously satirical Birds Aren’t Real movement. But in actuality, because of this societal connotation, the stigma surrounding the topic prevents people from understanding what modern government surveillance is; facial recognition technology and DNA databases. Clearview AI is an underground start-up company that gathers facial photos from millions of websites and social media pages. As of February 2022, Clearview AI has nearly 100 billion facial photos in its database, enough to ensure that “almost everyone in the world will be identifiable”. Clearview AI has been selling private data to the US government and over 600 law-enforcement agencies for years.
DNA testing company FamilyTreeDNA sold millions of peoples’ genetic data to the FBI and 23andMe secretly sold private information to private pharmaceutical companies.
As Sharon Weinberger explains, DNA data and facial recognition software can create detailed physical descriptions to track individuals and entire ethnic groups, which is why, in 2019, the Pentagon warned its members not to use commercial DNA kits, as the information could be used to track them and their families.
Whether it’s a private company or government agency gathering or purchasing our personal data, and whether their intent is to protect or to profit, the concept of government surveillance needs to be discussed rather than dismissed.
So, next time you see Birds Aren’t Real in the media, laugh and remember that there’s always a bit of truth to any joke.
Maureen Wardle can be reached at [email protected]