A GUIDE

TO ON/OFFLINE PROTESTER PRIVACY

BLM RESOURCE GUIDE* / BLACK RESOURCES / SOURCES CENTERED.

THIS GUIDE IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE BLACK MADE RESOURCES, RATHER WE ARE PRESERVING CROWD-SOURCED INFORMATION PRIMARILY FROM BLACK LIVES MATTER GUIDES AND BLACK USER’S TWEETS AND CONSOLIDATING THEM IN ONE DOC. WE ARE A COLLECTIVE OF OPEN SOURCE RESEARCHERS OF COLOR. PLEASE REACH OUT WITH ANY MORE RESOURCES / INFORMATION / CORRECTIONS.

*BLM HAS NOT SPONSORED THIS GUIDE.

OSROCCOLLECTIVE@GMAIL.COM

CONTENTS

  1. ONLINE
  1. COMMUNICATION + PLANNING
  2. PHONE SAFETY
  3. SOCIAL MEDIA + SEARCH ENGINE PRIVACY
  4. ARCHIVING PERSONAL PHOTOS/VIDEOS
  1. OFFLINE
  1. PHYSICAL PRIVACY
  2. OBSCURING FACIAL RECOGNITION
  1. SOURCES

ONLINE

  1. FOR ALL COMMUNICATION + PLANNING

  1. Signal for texting / calling
  1. App for iPhones HERE
  2. App for Androids HERE
  1. Download a VPN to obscure your IP address
  1. Proton VPN is free – Get it HERE
  1. Use aliases when signing petitions + sign-in sheets for meetings
  1. Create a separate persona which does not link to your real life details: separate name + separate email acct
  2. Use a burner phone acct like Google Voice or Hushed
  3. Petitions + sign-ons = a huge way white supremacist get names for doxxing lists
  1. Scramble words like protest with letters and numbers to avoid being searched or skewed by social media algorithms
  1. PROTEST = PR0T3ST
  2. ALGORITHM = 4LG0R1THM

  1. TURN PHONES OFF AT PROTEST

  1. If there is an incident to be recorded then:
  1. Use an alternative recording device
  2. Have a friend you can immediately share photos with, in case you lose your belongings are lost/confiscated
  3. If you use your phone (SOURCE)
  1. Enable full-disk encryption
  2. Airplane mode
  3. Disable face/touch ID and enable passcode
  4. Do not unlock phone when you take photos
  5. Before posting, scrub metadata
  1. iPhone guide HERE + below
  2. Android guide  below
  3. Avoid downloading 3rd party APPS to do this!
  1. Disable location services
  1. iPhone: go to settings
  1. Tap privacy
  1. Turn OFF all location services
  2. Tap camera
  1. Tap never
  1. Android: go to settings > security & location
  1. Look privacy, underneath is location
  2. Find the ‘use the location’ feature and toggle OFF
  3. Scroll down and tap advanced
  1. Toggle OFF the following
  1. Google Emergency Location Service
  2. Google Location Accuracy
  3. Google Location History
  4. Google Location Sharing
  • Samsung
  1. Open gallery APP
  2. Click image > tap more  
  3. Choose details
  4. Tap edit
  5. Look for minus (-) symbol in location section + tap it to remove location info
  6. Tap done
  1. Turn off Bluetooth (SOURCE)
  1. iPhone:
  1. Go to settings
  2. Tap Bluetooth
  1. Toggle Bluetooth OFF
  1. Android:
  1. Go to settings
  2. Tap connected devices
  3. Tap connection preferences
  4. Tap Bluetooth
  1. Toggle Bluetooth OFF
  1. DO NOT POST PHOTOS OF YOURSELF AT PROTESTS
  2. UNTAG YOURSELF FROM FAMILY/FRIEND’S PHOTOS ESPECIALLY PUBLIC ACCOUNTS (SOURCE)

  1. GO PRIVATE ON ALL SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS, HERE ARE THE HOW-TOs

  1. Google

  1. Remove content about me on sites
  1. Form
  1. Remove leaked sensitive financial, medical, + ID information from google search
  1. Form

  1. Twitter

  1. Protect against photo tagging + location
  1. Settings > Privacy & Safety > Photo tagging > OFF
  2. Settings > Privacy & Safety > Scroll down to Location > Disable
  1. Protect against discoverability
  1. Settings > Privacy & Safety > Scroll down to Discoverability & contacts
  2. “Let others find you by your email” > OFF
  3. “Let others find you by your phone” > OFF

  1. Facebook

  1. PROTECT AGAINST FB MONITORING
  1.  Go to Facebook settings
  2. Scroll down to Your Facebook Information.
  3. Click on Off-Facebook Activity. (You can see the list in Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity)
  4. To shut it down go in the same settings and click on 'More Options'
  5. Go into Manage Future Activity and turn it OFF
  6.  While you are there, make sure you clear the history as well
  1. Keep your location data private (through FB settings + phone settings)
  2. Hide your account from search engines
  1. Go to Facebook settings > privacy
  2. Do you want search engines outside of FB to link to your profile > Edit >
  3. Click the checkbox on the bottom > Turn OFF
  4. On the same page, select “Who can look you up using the phone number you’ve provided? > Only me
  5. On the same page, select “Who can look you up using the email you’ve provided? > Only me
  6. On the same page, select “Do you want search engines outside of Facebook to link to your profile?” > No
  1. Hide who can see your friends list
  1. Go to Facebook settings > privacy
  2. For “Who can see your friends list?” select, only me
  1. Manage timeline + tagging settings
  1. Go to Facebook settings >Timeline and Tagging Settings
  2. In the Timeline section > For “allow others to share your posts to their stories” > OFF
  3. In the Tagging section > For “Who can see posts you’re tagged in on your timeline?” > Only me
  4. In the same page, turn on the option for reviewing tags people add to your posts before the tags appear on FB

  1. Instagram

  1. Manage your visibility
  1. Privacy > Controlling Your Visibility > Instagram Privacy on the Web
  2. Select “How can I remove images from Google search”

  1. LinkedIn

  1. Hide who can see your profile
  1. Go to your settings > “Your profile’s public visibility” > OFF
  1. Your work history is often one of the most public ways to track you!
  1. Plus professional connections may be at risk if you’re found to be participating in political activities/activism

  1. ARCHIVING YOUR PHOTOS

  1. Not posting doesn’t mean not preserving!
  2. If you capture important content from a protest remove it off your phone, download it on your computer, and save it to the hard drive (NOT TO THE CLOUD). Make note of the time and location you took the photo/video.
  3. If you have to post something, take a screenshot so as to scrub the metadata off the photo!
  4. Blurring faces can be easily undone, so it's best not to post photos with faces AT ALL.

OFFLINE

  1. AT THE PROTEST

  1. Cover your face
  2. Cover identifying tattoos
  3. Wear non-identifiable clothing (black pants, black hoodie)
  4. Protect against pepper spray & tear gas (SOURCE)
  5. Protect against physical objects/harm, lessons learned from hong kong protests (SOURCE)
  6. Add obstructions behind you so police have difficulty following you when marching, + march against traffic to lose lines of cops tailing you (SOURCE)

  1. Tips for obscuring facial recognition technology:

  1. Avoid painting your face bc most video surveillance is done manually + painting can make it easier to track you across multiple video sources
  2. Wear a nondescript mask instead
  3. Ex. face paint contributed to Russian protesters' arrests in March (SOURCE)

SOURCES / RESOURCES

  1. #BlackLivesMatter: https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1-0KC83vYfVQ-2freQveH43PWxuab2uWDEGolzrNoIks/mobilebasic
  2. Masterlist of safety tips for protesting:  https://twitter.com/duanweis/status/1266279380675776514?s=20
  3. Safety During Protests: https://twitter.com/irlrico/status/1266047272615378944
  4. Digital Safety Kit: https://cpj.org/2019/07/digital-safety-kit-journalists/ (also available in Español, Français, Русский, and در فارسی)
  5. Anti-Doxing Guide: https://medium.com/@EqualityLabs/anti-doxing-guide-for-activists-facing-attacks-from-the-alt-right-ec6c290f543c 
  6. Face masks which mess up the data of license plate readers + protect against COVID-19 HERE