Shared here for public benefit.

Before going to a protest, demonstrators or observers should note that their cellphones may subject them to surveillance tactics by law enforcement. If your cellphone is on and unsecured, your location can be tracked and your unencrypted communications, such as SMS, may be intercepted. Additionally, police may retrieve your messages and the content of your phone if they take custody of your phone, or later by warrant or subpoena.

    • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Leave it on at home.

      “Your honor, as you can see from my mobile device location history, I never even left my house that day.”

      Not that that’ll actually work or that they’ll care, but still…

    • ssillyssadass@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      Most modern devices track the phone even when it’s turned off. If you can’t remove the battery, leave it at home.

  • Angel Mountain@feddit.nl
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    6 hours ago

    … Goes to a protest to support gaza, get’s phone unlocked because police is using Israeli cellebrite software…

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Jesus Christ, this conversation is scary. I wish y’all good luck that none of these precautions are necessary.

    As someone in a blue state where governance is sane, I’m “raw dogging it” (effing offensive slang term but now I’ve used it once in my life and can rest easy) and bringing my kids (teens). M also going to the local demonstration rather than go into the city for a big one - to some extent it’s a numbers game: ICE can’t raid them all and police aren’t legally allowed to help them

    …. And hopefully my optimism is well founded

    —-

    Edit: huge success! Entirely peaceful. While a few cops drove by, there was no police presence. Thousands of people of all ages lining both sides of main st, and three sides of our town common. Constant honking from supporters driving by. It was very inspirational. I’m proud of my fellow citizens and hope our voice for restoring sanity and democracy is heard.

    For those pessimists,a bit more context why I was so optimistic…… a few years back, our mayor and police were participants in a local BLM rally. Also a big part of local outrage against fascism was a city counselor getting assaulted and arrested for videoing an illegal raid on one of his constituents.

    • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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      5 hours ago

      I’m in one of the bluest. Our police and FBI are not “blue.” American spy forces and “committee on anti-American activities”-ass motherfuckers are not kind or just, no matter the voting tendencies of the populace.

      How many decades have we seen far right terror groups overlooked for anti-capitalist leftists? The left threatens the status quo, the right fortifies it. The blue and red dichotomy is the status quo. The democrats support the genocide in Palestine. Going against that status quo makes you not safe from government crackdowns, the party in power is completely irrelevant.

    • billwashere@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      The fact that this conversation is even necessary is to me more scary.

      I used to think the Bush era was bad. I’d gladly trade that for now.

      • PTSDwarrior@lemmy.ml
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        6 hours ago

        Nowadays millennials and Gen Z use raw dogging to indicate going either without protection to their electronic devices, or foregoing the use of devices like on a long plane ride.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          Yes, very cringey slang for going without protection. Originally from pregnancy or STDs, but now also from boredom. In my case, without the protection of a mask or leaving my wallet and phone at home. I even drove and parked in a local public garage, so would be traceable in several different ways

  • gaael@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    8 hours ago

    You get a burner for the protest and give your phone to a friend or family member for the day so that it still pings towers at the usual places.

  • nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    11 hours ago

    people on the internet love to talk about all these great security smart things that they will definitely never do.

    leave valuables at home, wear unremarkable clothes, and write your lawyers number on your arm with a sharpie.

    personally i bring my phone and a leica. ive been to jail for protesting before and in my current situation i just don’t care.

  • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
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    12 hours ago

    You leave it at home. Take an old factory-reset with a prepaid sim. Keep it off unless you 100% need it.

  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
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    14 hours ago

    Leave it at home.

    I can understand the wish to film things; I recommend buying a cheap camera, maybe one to strap on your forehead (starting at $20) or an old compact digital camera. Something without any sort of connectivity. Something you can leave behind if the going gets rough.

    • Manalith@midwest.social
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      5 hours ago

      Also multiple SD cards, swapping out frequently so even if they grash the camera you still have something.

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    18 hours ago

    Burner phone … leave your main one at home … ABSOLUTELY DO NOT BRING YOUR MAIN PHONE

    Set up your burner phone with one or two accounts to things you might want to upload to … encrypt as much as you can. Do not load all your social accounts … only log into the bare minimum. If you are organized, log into temporary or fake or secondary accounts if you can.

    Start the day without any prior history, photos or content on the phone and keep as few contacts as you can … memorize numbers that are important to you.

    Always be prepared to give up or lose your phone.

    And as always … SAFETY GLASSES … bring a pair of industry rated CSA approved safety glasses (try to get a pair with a tint so you can pass them as sunglasses). Look for safety glasses with anything marked ANSI Z87+, sometimes written Z87.1+ (note the plus) rated or CSA Z94.3 rated are ensured to safely withstand a direct high energy strike.

    … additional things if you want to do more

    Bring a small new blank paper note book you can keep in a pocket with a small pen or pencil … you might be taking notes like license plates, name tags or names of people or places … its always faster to just write something down than in taking a shaky photo or tapping away a note on an app

    Wear a big scarf … for guys or girls … a scarf comes in handy for all kinds of emergencies including using it as something to cover your mouth, dress a wound, tie something or cover something up.

    Wear a good pair of running shoes … be prepared to run and be on your feet all day.

    Bring a small backpack and bring a couple bottles of water and some energy bars … keep it light because you’ll be on your feet all day and if things go bad, you might be targeted if you have a large pack … plus an empty pack can be used to carry things later if you need to.

    Dress for the weather … if its going to be hot, wear light clothing but if things go bad and you have to stay out over night or longer, bring a light jacket … if rain is forecast within a day or two, bring a small poncho

    • foggenbooty@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Bring a pair of foam earplug as well. They weigh and cost nothing, and could be useful of they try to use sonic deterents against you.

    • JayGray91🐉🍕@piefed.social
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      11 hours ago

      Wear a big scarf … for guys or girls … a scarf comes in handy for all kinds of emergencies including using it as something to cover your mouth, dress a wound, tie something or cover something up.

      Everyone should look up what a shemagh is, and all multitude of uses it has. Pretty sure there are plenty of colors that aren’t tacticool, which is inevitable when you search for it. If it works for the grunts the US sent to the Middle East, and actual Middle Eastern cultures, it’ll work for you. Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy describes how useful it is to carry a towel across the galaxy; this is it.

      Edit: something more that I recalled of when I was in the prepper phase years ago: Marines swear on this thing called a woobie. It’s their safety blanket, figuratively and practically. It’s basically a quilted fabric liner under a poncho for insulation. Works just as well as blankets if you’re going to be crashing somewhere overnight.

    • BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works
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      13 hours ago

      We’re so focused on electronics here, but this part can save your ass:

      Bring a small new blank paper note book you can keep in a pocket with a small pen or pencil

      The following is translated from the meager tactical training I’ve received: Emphasis on the pencil being small. You definitely don’t want a full size pencil in your pocket if shit hits the fan and you get tumbled.

      Maybe get a waterproof notepad. But make sure that you can easily rip out pages. Use a single sheet for all the info you don’t want the police to have (like all the other burner phone numbers and such) That way you can rip that sheet out and swallow it, if you’re about to be captured.

      Also, about the scarfs. I don’t know about the US, but at least in my own country, it’s illegal to use a mask at protests. Meaning a mask would get you singled out and targeted by law enforcement.

    • codenamekino@lemmy.world
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      16 hours ago

      To add onto the phone section: (1) Disable any biometric authentication, and (2) turn/keep it off whenever there’s a chance that it will be siezed.

      1. While the first amendment protects you from being required to give up your phone’s pass code, there’s no protection against someone just holding the phone up to your face or fingerprints to unlock it.

      2. While your phone is never totally impenetrable, it is significantly harder to access in its BFU state (before first unlock). Most commercially available cracking tools will only work if the phone is in it’s AFU state (after first unlock).

        • Rob T Firefly@lemmy.world
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          8 hours ago

          And in all likelihood forcing your fingerprint or face unlock is perfectly legally acceptable for them to do. A password or a code is something they’d have to force you to say and ultimately you can choose not to (though they’re still fine to just try and hack out a pin/pattern on their own, or use phone-cracking tools or backdoors) but you have no defense whatsoever against your biometrics being used.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      16 hours ago

      Ideally, that burner phone never goes anywhere near your home or any place you frequent from the time it is acquired until the time it is destroyed.

      Briar is a good messaging app for you and your group. It will work (to some degree or another) over bluetooth even after they shut down the cell towers. Keep posting information about law enforcement deployment numbers and locations.

      Airplanes.live provides unfiltered ADS-B data, useful for identifying and locating law enforcement aircraft, including drones.

      For uploading media, choose overseas fediverse instances for your account, which are not subject to US law, and won’t get shut down or raided by US law enforcement if you upload something they don’t like.

      I’ve been suggesting this everywhere: pick a dozen different protest locations, and share your list with everyone you meet. If and when law enforcement deploys in force at your current location, leave for another. Force them to constantly redeploy to multiple locations.

  • Uriel_Copy@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    I learned this recently: if you have an iPhone, pressing the lock button five times rapidly will lock it so that you need to enter a passcode, not just FaceID. Useful if you think somebody might forcibly use your face to unlock it

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Yes, but this will also call emergency services after, I think, ten seconds.

      Make sure you cancel that call right away unless you actually need them.

      • Manalith@midwest.social
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        5 hours ago

        Honestly, it would be kind of funny that your phone calls emergency services when you get pulled over and you don’t want them to force you to unlock your phone, having a 911 operator recording the entire interaction’s audio.

  • drdalek@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    14 hours ago

    Stolen from another post:

    “you need around 6 layers of tin foil you can test this if you have a bluetooth device start playing some music or any audio and start wrapping in tinfoil until it disconnects id also say to leave your phone at home sk it pings the cell towers that you are at home and bring a burner if you can and make sure the burner is private so use cash prepaid sims and dont put the sim in at home or work make sure its all a mall away from cameras”

    Be safe tomorrow everyone