Cross-posted from “🎥 How Governments Spy On Protestors—And How To Avoid It” by @LWD@lemm.ee in !privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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they mentioned a few of these but I’m adding some of my own suggestions:
LEVEL 1: slightly paranoid
- wear a mask, cover your face
- leave your phone at home or use a faraday bag
- put phone in airplane mode if you must bring it
- use end-to-end encrypted or self destructing messages to organize
- don’t upload pics of other protesters without permission or at least blur faces
- limit uploading images of yourself (in general)
LEVEL 2: tinfoil hat
- ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS:
- cover up easily identifiable markings or hair color
- wear generic looking clothing (eg "black block)
- avoid wearing clothes/jewelry/glasses that can be uniquely associated to you in other photos (your cool af signature style can bite you in the ass)
- BRING CASH!- don’t use a credit card or ATM anywhere near the site of a major protest action
- memorize an emergency contact number in advance in case your phone is taken from you by police (or you opted not to bring it)
- memorize major intersections and landmarks (in case no phone or no data) and have an escape/exit plan if things turn violent
- create alt/burner email accounts for registration or planning your activism (don’t use the alt accounts for anything else) see also email forwarders
- minimize your online footprint, especially publicly visible social media engagement where you login as yourself
LEVEL 3: can’t catch what they can’t see
- ALL OF THE ABOVE PLUS:
- if you need supplies for protest actions, purchase items using cash - do NOT use ATMs near the location where an event takes place; make withdrawals well in advance (weeks to months)
- compartmentalize your digital identity; use alias/alt identities which are hard to link back to you for anything protest related
- logins that use your real public identity (tied to bank accounts, google, apple ID) should never be accessed on the same devices/IP addresses you use to organize or discuss protest actions - for truly hardcore mode, this means means buying a separate phone/computer. obtaining hardware which can’t be easily linked back to you is a whole topic unto itself.
- delete old photos and posts from exposed accounts (never too late, but most images on the open web have been scraped by Clearview already so ymmv)
- delete social media accounts which connect to your real identity; if you simply can’t delete them then at least compartmentalize your protest actions from posts made under your real identity
- never give out real personal information. use fake names, addresses, burner emails or forwarders, fake phone (this is harder), on any website or survey or petition you sign. you sometimes have to enter credit card details but everything else can be bullshit.
- use privacy cards for online purchases so your retail activity is harder to connect across multiple sites
- use a reliable VPN with Tor or other privacy focused browsers when researching anti fascist history, protest tactics, or sensitive topics (sabotage, pranktivism, monkey wrenching, evading police capture, etc)
- Controversial take: generally speaking, do NOT use Tor or VPNs when you login to personal real identity websites (Google, Apple, banking, any store that has your real information or keeps KYC details) - many sites keep a record of your recent login IP addresses. there’s a lot of complex caveats here but basically you don’t want to associate your real identity account activity with your dark web activity because they share the exact same VPN IP address.
- Optional: instead of black block, do the opposite. stand out on purpose in a way that doesnt match your normal appearance - apply fake tattoos, wear unusual clothing or a wig as a disguise. only wear it for specific events and dispose your disguise after so it can’t be linked to you