We should build a guide to anonymous and resilient protests
Added 2022-03-21 19:15:11 +0000 UTCHello everyone!
Protesting governments is becoming increasingly riskier and hazardous. The 21st century technology gave the law enforcement tools to surveil citizens in the streets to crack down on peaceful protesters with unprecedented force. Let's balance the scales of power by building a robust and comprehensive guide on how to protect your anonymity during a protest and how to make protests unstoppable.
This will require deep considerations of multiple threats and this analysis should result in suggesting extreme measures. I have a compiled a list of points around which this guide should be build but I don't think it's exhaustive.
This guide will be released in text and video formats. Your input here is incredibly important, so please share your points, suggestions, criticism.
With your help, we can make and improve upon this guide and help people around the world, even the most authoritarian regimes that are still connected to the internet, safely protest in the streets against government or corporate overreach.
We want this guide to be successful against autocratic regimes such as Russia, Iran, Israel, or Saudi Arabia as well as more democratic regimes with advanced surveillance state in Europe and North America.
Below is a list of data points and most common threats associated with them.
Identity protection:
- Phone number - IMSI catchers, intercept
- Phone accounts (Google Account, Apple ID) - subpoenas
- media accounts - subpoenas
- Location:
GPS - physical access
Cellular data - intercept, subpoenas
Bluetooth - intercept
WiFi - intercept, subpoenas - Facial recognition - bulk data collection
- Gait recognition - bulk data collection
- Tattoos, birth marks - bulk data collection, visual collection
- Clothing, jewelry, etc. - bulk data collection, visual collection
Device protection:
- Full device encryption
- Passcode, no biometrics acceptable - forceful unlock, court order, visual collection
- GrapheneOS - most secure/anonymous, Android - potentially anonymous, iPhone - secure but impossible to anonymize
Communication:
- End-to-end encrypted
- Anonymous accounts (strict metadata policy)
- Decentralized, peer-to-peer (must work in case of government shutdown of the Internet)
- Tor, Orbot, Tor Browser (to anonymize Internet traffic; VPNs are insufficient)
Documentation:
- Video/image metadata (can reveal device parameters, location, time stamps)
- Facial recognition in footage (can compromise identity of protesters)
- Location & temporal recognition in footage (pattern and weather recognition)
- Document without unlocking your device (keep your phone locked as much as possible)
Legal protection
- contacts to lawyers, legal advice, knowledge of rights in case of arrest
- avoid harm, damage, civil/criminal charges
Please share your input. This can save the lives of people who might be less technical than you.
Comments
I really like this adea you have. You have a good list and the operational procedure by James mason is great too this is the level of details folks need. I can only add a graphine phone may be the gold standard but also mention de-googled phones ie linage or braxos anything that keeps your identity from being associated with the phone is good.
Chris Newham
2022-03-23 11:55:29 +0000 UTCThis is just a start, I can write more. This is just what sprung to mind
James Mason
2022-03-22 19:17:04 +0000 UTCI believe that with the advent of automated surveillance and ID systems, we might see a drop in police actually on site stopping people (pretty sure I'll be proven wrong about that). As far as the actual tactics and techniques, I have a few tips: Facial recognition: Where possible, wear a mask. Full-face. Nothing less. Gait recognition: Pebble in a shoe. Now the question may not be so much at the actual protest. If you have a mask, facial recognition hasn't got shit. What is worrying is the trip there and back. If you want to attend a protest, I suggest the following: - Do a test trip a few days before the event. Keep track of cameras. What you want is a place without cameras, but with traffic. Public bathrooms don't cut it, if one person goes in and a maskie comes out, they know who you are. - Once you find a place you can use (some backstreet or alley), change into the persona there. This includes clothing, mask, hiding any identifying features. If you have tattoos, some skin color sleeves come in handy, they can be used to hide these features. - Change gait by changing shoes, perhaps a new pair and modify them to change your gait. Won't be comfortable, but damn, if it changes the gait, it's cool. - Think about the details. The same backpack may give you away. If you can stash stuff somewhere, do so. - As for the phone, best way would be to turn it off and leave it home. If you can't leave it home, better turn it off and faraday bag it at some point along the route. Maybe at a subway station or a place where you naturally have a gap in reception. This way, the last point the phone is seen is somewhere in a gap. - Don't go back the same way. Perform a cleaning run on the way home, i.e. find a spot to change from protest outfit to regular clothes, in a location unsupervised. Check beforehand you are not being followed. Once you turn back to a human again, wait for a while before turning your phone back on. This way, your phone is off at two locations, neither of which can be pinpointed to the point of the protest. Ideally, you'd turn your phone out of the faraday bag only after arriving home. - If you can get it, get a camera, do not take pics on phone. Until the photos are censored, treat them as you would your PGP keys.
James Mason
2022-03-22 19:16:32 +0000 UTC
