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.
Shut off and leave your phone at home, buy a pay-as-you-go to bring with you for emergency contact/coordination
Leave 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 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
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
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.
Cell service is always turned on on a phone, even with no SIM 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
Unless you stop at a coffee shop, upload content to a secure server, ditch the SIM and power off the device.
Now they also have you on camera
So, turn it off before you go home?
They still talk to the tower when turned off
No, because it will spend most of its time after leaving the store in your home.
First, don’t buy it from a store. Second, turn that sucker off before you go 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.
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.
Right? It’s like these guys have never seen The Wire.
That show finished airing 18 years ago…
Thinking about it, that show is a terrible reference. Modern phones didn’t exist in it, as they hadn’t been invented yet. The first iPhone was released while the last season of The Wire was filming, and the App Store didn’t come out until a few months after the final season had aired. It’s from an entirely different era.