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Dude Kickstarting “Dead Drops” In Northern New Jersey


August 7, 2014 | Marina Galperina

“I would like to start a network of Dead Drops in Northern NJ starting in my hometown of Rockaway and branching out towards NYC,” writes a self-described “highly motivated, middle age” IT tech James W McCloughy on his Kickstarter Page.

The route will be loosely guided by Interstate 80 with a final goal being to establish links up to and then across the Hudson River.

We’ve long loved artist Aram Bartholl’s Dead Drops project — the “anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in a public space,” a series of USB drives stuck into corners and walls for the purpose of free, physical sharing of files in the city. The project has evolved in many ways since, but this Kickstarter doesn’t appear to be affiliated with either Bartholl, F.A.T. or Eyebeam. However, the Dead Drops site welcomes the public to participate in installing their own hubs, then submitting photos and map to their site, which, in the spirit of the project, this dude on Kickstarter should be doing for free instead of offering it as a Kickstarter reward, right?

Here’s Bartholl’s tutorial from way back when in 2010: