The right to assemble and protest is enshrined in American law, but it can still be dangerous to hit the streets to make your voice heard. Your devices are a treasure trove of information about you, and you may not always know who’s collecting that data. Take a few minutes before you go to assess your digital and physical safety. Even if you have nothing to hide, you don’t want to accidentally give law enforcement officials any information you didn’t intend to share. Follow these tips to lock down your phone before a protest or other peaceful assembly.
Faraday bag all electronic items; phone, smartwatch; hell, I’d even bag my car keys. Cover your face, especially the eye area. Make your voice heard, but don’t be a data point.
Yeah. I see so many protesters with their face not covered. Cover your face!!!
Also, dress like them. You want to create as much confusion as possible.
This might be relevant for following ICE around or direct action, but at this point there’s almost zero personal risk from attending something like a rally or a march.
My relatives and even friends my age are afraid to go to protests. They read stuff like this, and it acts as demobilization messaging. In my experience, once you get them to go once they’re no longer afraid to engage, but there’s an initial fear and anticipatory obedience that has to be overcome.
inb4 protests do nothing: getting people to stick their toe in the water helps build commitment that will one day be necessary to gain critical mass for more organized disobedience.
ICE has literally started going door to door in Minnesota looking for immigrants and activists. It’s already starting, people need to be protecting their privacy now.
I go to protests without my phone, and I’m afraid every time.
I get that nothing is likely to happen to me, but it could. I get that this is am irrational fear. But idk strategically what to do.
ICE has told the press that they are “at war.” It’s not an irrational fear.
I don’t think your fear is irrational, for whatever that’s worth
This might be relevant for following ICE around or direct action, but at this point there’s almost zero personal risk from attending something like a rally or a march.
No. If the data exists at any point, then a future threat will be able to exploit it, so full on nazi style fascism might not be here yet, but when it is, you’ll be in danger. Data can sleep forever before it becomes a threat.
It already is, with taking a digital device!
Just don’t bring it. Bring a digital pocket camera instead to document stuff.
Nowadays, you can’t use a mobile phone without signing in to some Google service or Apple. It’s mandatory. Giving them access to every data you own.
I use my android phons without a google acccount without having a custom rom, it is usable just that most people are too ignorant and clueless
I have a Samsung phone and it is mandatory to have a Samsung account to use it.
You don’t need a samsung account lol. You probably missed the small text that allows you to skip it.
I have a Samsung Galaxy S10e and no Samsung account. I just flashed the rom. I also bought an unlocked phone, but I don’t think that actually matters. I am replying to you with said Samsung Galaxy S10e.
Yeah it wasn’t mandatory back in the s10 days years ago. But times have changed.
What ROM are you using?
GrapheneOS or KaiOS?
e/OS too? :3
With the SIM completely turned off, maybe. But it’s still a bad idea.
Without the SIM.
Yup. It’s a bit of a question of how paranoid are you/you feel you need to be but it may be worth keeping in mind that the baseband modem of any phone is proprietary and runs its own unaudited software the end user has no control over or insight into.
No need to be paranoid, IMEI/IMSI are built into the protocols. Phone networks were never built with anonymity in mind
That and cell towers….
But a cheap burner. Don’t activate it. Keep it in a faraday pouch. In an emergency remove from faraday pouch and call 911. You can do that on phones you don’t activate.
But everything else, like you said, document with a digital camera.
Cant u just use encrypted messaging services like whatsapp signal telegram? SMS isn’t encrypted. And this is also why you shouldn’t give tech billionaire companies so much power as a nation lol they abuse ur privacy thats why I love how EU is still trying to protect our rights at least
Not relevant. Unless you use airplane mode, it will be visible that your phone was at the place.
oooooo but thats not enough evidence right? or is it? If your phone was in some area doesnt mean you attended a protest per se
Tell that to the “nontechnical” brick walls that hate you.
whatsapp signal telegram
Telegram isn’t encrypted, and honestly you shouldn’t use it.[1] Whatsapp and Signal are US-based, which means that they will give up your data on the first request.
Use actually secure messengers, like Delta Chat, SimpleX, or Matrix with end-to-end encryption.
Signal have published several times when they receive a request for data and their response.
Due to the mechanisms they employ, all they can actually give is if there’s an account associated with a phone number and the last time it logged in, if even that last bit. There’s some fairly detailed articles diving into how this works so well under the hood from a cryptographic standpoint, but it basically amounts to even addresses of users being able to be secret to minimize shared metadata to a bare minimum.
Also the software is entirely open-source – app and server both – and are frequently audited on this. The server never has an opportunity to receive any plain-text data to store.
The weak spot is always just having access to your device.
Whatsapp and Signal are US-based, which means that they will give up your data on the first request.
This is true. In regards to Signal, they do always comply with the governments request for data. The things is, Signal has next to no data on you. So when they comply, they give them everything they have (which is next to nothing). You can see everything they have given up here: https://signal.org/bigbrother/
I bring my phone, and my wallet, and my keys, and a $7,000 camera, and my lawyer’s phone number in my head.
they can suck my balls
These articles mean nothing. You have 2 options.
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Leave ALL electronics at home and do not bring anything to the protest that connects to a tower or the internet.
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Just deal with the fact you are being tracked and deal with it.
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You can buy faraday wallets for like $20.
Others said not all work well though.
Wrapping in aluminum foil works. Thicker is better, more wraps is better. But one wrap stopped my test call.
I tested mine using my keyfob (which is what I bought it for). Test, for sure, but there are ones that work. Aluminum foil also works.
IMO just having your personal device on you in the presence of a protest puts you in danger. They have ample tools to track cellular devices that basically cannot be guarded against without disabling the function altogether, such as with a Faraday bag. They will catch and log that you were at a protest, and use that against you later.
don’t leave out the fact that they’ll just shoot you in the face for no reason, and then get “absolute immunity”
And then go on TV and call you a terrorist 15 minutes later.
Going to a protest? Don’t bring your phone
without doing this firstI’m skeptical of bringing your phone at all, either in airplane mode or off, because modern phones still broadcast location when it’s ‘dead’ in order for you to find it. But I don’t know enough about that to say for sure
Off should be off. Airplane mode often leaves WiFi and Bluetooth on because airplanes allow them. And GPS doesn’t transmit anything, but if it’s enabled it’s still recording your location.
Yesterday, I posted a reply that said, just do not bring any cellphone with you. I do not own one & double check people using electronics around me during activists activities. Lat night, before I went to sleep, the obvious occurred to me, activists need to record evidence of what is going at the activism.
Thus, my updated answer/recommenation (as a veteran, own no cellphone & double checks people using electronics around me activist) go back to the ‘80s’ or maybe, even ‘90s’ recording technology to record evidence of what is going at the activism.
I do not think anything done to a protester’s/activist’s cellphone can make it safe to bring to protest/activism.
I would like to bring the attention to LoRa.
Meshtastic is a good example of leveraging LoRa.
Haven’t used my client in almost a year, but my repeater is still running strong.
You wanted to bring attention to it but you couldn’t bother to say what it is?
I really really hope that this takes off.
Going to a Protest? Don’t Bring Your Phone
FTFY
Someone’s gotta record the fascism.
Also calling help if/when they shoot you might be helpful.
cameras exist.
Camera’s can be easily confiscated and broken by fascists.
Instant uploads are much harder to suppress.
no bigger than a phone, no harder to destroy than a phone. just as easy to conceal as a phone.
SD cards are pretty resilient.
Then use… a camera??
Someone will (and probably better). There are more cameras at protests than ever in history. What’s missing is mass action by complacent people.
Pretty easy to take video on an old phone without a SIM, or with a cheapo burner sim.
Are there “burner sims” you can get nowadays that don’t require online activation (i.e. they can easily trace the sim back to you)?
Phreeli, if you pay using crypto that can keep you anonymous
What’s the plan for having your phone at home? They’re going door to door and shooting innocent white American citizens.
What’s the plan for having your phone at home?
#00 inserts for my pump action wireless hole punch.
No no, you’ll need slugs if you want to hole-punch any body armor.
Not that I would know what you aim on using your wireless hole-punch for.
12ga slugs don’t reliably penetrate soft armor, and don’t penetrate hard armor. The proper tactic for armored assailants is to aim for the groin.
The proper tactic for armored assailants is to aim for the groin.
I mean, one to the chest will at least slow them down, but yea, I can get on board with blasting some dicks off. lol
Post-global war of terror, ceramic armor rifle plates are widely available and cheaper than guns.
Non-penetrating hits on hard armor have a felt impact an order of magnitude less that the recoil of the firearm that fired the round.
Hunh, good to know.
Head and dick shots only, then.
Thanks.
Lol, lmao even. That’s some careful word play for the sake of unneccesary hyperbole.
They have shot innocent white American citizens. In some other places they have gone door to door. Those are independent actions, not a combined reality. We can all agree they’re god awful as a massive understatement without lying about door to door murder squads.
Inb4 “if you have to make that kind of distinction you’re already fucked” yeah, we are, but accurate information about the ground situation is vital for any forward movement.
Man, that’s a Reddit-pedantic “you forgot PEDMAS” -like response to someone worrying about getting their home raided and asking a simple question.
You’re not fucked. You’re a dick. And being one isn’t “vital” to anything.
You can’t seriously be suggesting that lying to people about the sitaution is in any way helpful.
Fuck off and sow FUD elsewhere.
You can’t be so dense as to think that simple minded hair splitting is actually useful when people are being dragged from their homes at gunpoint by the US Gestapo right now?
Holy shit.
You might as well be a Fed.
Shut off and leave your phone at home, buy a pay-as-you-go to bring with you for emergency contact/coordination
leave your primary phone ON at home.
I believe there are Bluetooth network protocols that mesh that would work for messaging and not require cell service. It would be smart to organize using something like that and just use any cell phone without cell service turned on. That still gives you the ability to call 911 in case of emergencies as well.
You can use Briar, BitChat, or Bridgefy to communicate, without having internet connections. I’ve only tried Briar, which works with cell networks, wifi, also bluetooth.
Cell service is always turned on on a phone, even with no SaiM card and the phone in airplane mode, and for most phones, even when the phone is “off”. They still ping the local towers semi regularly; they just don’t ramp up transmission power ir try to establish a full connection.
Anyone got a list of Bluetooth devices without a cell antenna where the BT MAC is regularly scrambled?
Does it matter if that cell service isn’t connected to a name?
It’s connected to your name when you go home
So, turn it off before you go home?
They still talk to the tower when turned off
Unless you stop at a coffee shop, upload content to a secure server, ditch the SIM and power off the device.
Unless you stop at a coffee shop
Now they also have you on camera
What kind of garbage corporate coffee shops are you going to?
No, because it will spend most of its time after leaving the store in your home.
True, but if surveillance is your concern, they are monitoring Bluetooth devices too.
Does that matter? If it’s a device that you bought used just for this? There is no name attached to that device at that point. Buy it used on Craigslist, use it for the event, throw it away. It can be any cheap, crappy phone.
Right? It’s like these guys have never seen The Wire.
That show finished airing 18 years ago…
Shut off and leave your phone at home, buy a pay-as-you-go to bring with you for emergency contact
/coordinationLeave the pay-as-you-go phone powered off too, and only power it up if you actually have to use it. If you have to use it once, you need to get a replacement for a future event.
I’m thinking perhaps something like Meshtastic transmitters and receivers should be used for coordination instead.
Meshtastic is just as susceptible to listening and isn’t perfect at encryption or anonymity but should be another tool to consider when cellphone towers are down or otherwise unusable.
It’s alright for non-critical stuff. Ok for getting help, not the best for coordinating action.
Reticulum is an alternative network/protocol that focuses more on security and interconnection of different networks
Meshtastic is exactly what needs to be implemented
I ran across that instance the other day and immediately thought about coordination.
It’s like sneaker net for piracy.
Fuck yeah, hack the planet
