Its not the device cracking that's the problem; its the "your device was identified at the protest we have labeled a riot and has been tracked to your home, which we will now raid in the middle of the night".

And bring a separate video camera

Yes a burner that you don’t activate. Keep it in a faraday bag. In an emergency you can take it out and call 911.

Yep, ding ding ding, buy a burner phone, with cash, from a store that doesn't have many or very good cameras.

Bringing your real main phone is you thinking you know more about cybersecurity and surveillance than Palantir, than all the cybersec and intel firms the US Mil and Police departments have been partnering with with over a decade now.

99.99999999% chance you don't.

I go to protests without my phone, and I'm afraid every time.

I get that nothing is likely to happen to me, but it could. I get that this is am irrational fear. But idk strategically what to do.

This might be relevant for following ICE around or direct action, but at this point there's almost zero personal risk from attending something like a rally or a march.

No. If the data exists at any point, then a future threat will be able to exploit it, so full on nazi style fascism might not be here yet, but when it is, you'll be in danger. Data can sleep forever before it becomes a threat.

ICE has literally started going door to door in Minnesota looking for immigrants and activists. It's already starting, people need to be protecting their privacy now.

Someone's gotta record the fascism.

That and cell towers….

But a cheap burner. Don’t activate it. Keep it in a faraday pouch. In an emergency remove from faraday pouch and call 911. You can do that on phones you don’t activate.

But everything else, like you said, document with a digital camera.

GrapheneOS or KaiOS?

I use my android phons without a google acccount without having a custom rom, it is usable just that most people are too ignorant and clueless

Modern phones rotate random MAC addresses. For WiFi, capturing SSID probes can be enough to track somebody though (some phones also have some mitigation for that too, like not probing for an SSID after it hasn't been seen for some amount of time). Even when turned off, many phones, including iPhones, turn into BLE beacons similar to AirTags, which can be used to track you.

Thank you, I have been saying this. Use a regular camera and be sure to delete meta data off images and videos when uploading!

This is slightly false in an alarmist fashion. At least in the US, the police are not actively tracking anything without a subpoena to the cellular provider of the phone in question. They can look at the location data after the fact, using a court ordered subpoena. They can also use live location data in an emergency situation,also using a court ordered subpoena.

Cellular data from cell towers on cell networks are private property of the cellular provider companies. That's not to say you are private while on them. Just that the police are not actively tracking your location through them without great effort for each individual they wish to track.

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.

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.

Right? It’s like these guys have never seen The Wire.

there are less antagonistic looking ways to mask yourself, such as cute inflatable animal suits.

Even if your phone is “off” it’s transmitting an ID for antitheft purposes.

Faraday bags!

Off should be off. Airplane mode often leaves WiFi and Bluetooth on because airplanes allow them. And GPS doesn't transmit anything, but if it's enabled it's still recording your location.

I got a body cam for about $50 amazon dot com/dp/B0BHZ4PRRG, currently unavailable. Makes a great dashcam too. When the usb charging cable is plugged in it turns on when you start your car and turns off when you turn off your car.

The only thing you're missing is to put a piece of white tape on the sole of your shoe. When you are lying on the ground It's a cop signal that you are an undercover agent.

You wanted to bring attention to it but you couldn't bother to say what it is?

I really really hope that this takes off.

Haven't used my client in almost a year, but my repeater is still running strong.

Burner sim won't help, you need a burner phone too.

A VPN does not stop location data for your physical device when looking at cellular data from the carrier. Your location can and is always triangulated using cell towers. VPNs only ever protect your IP address from being geolocated and encrypting the data downloaded and uploaded while connected. Bit streams are still sent and received from a physical place in the world before the VPN hides your traffic and that is recorded by the cell provider.

I turned off biometrics for unlocking the phone. Still works for downloads, passwords, everything but unlocking the phone. I’ve barely noticed a change.

Interesting, but $25 a month. Tello dot com has a cheap plan for $7.91 a month after taxes and fees. I use it on a $50 Amazon blu phone because I wanted something else for 2FA, and I have a phone ready if my main one breaks or gets lost.

Others said not all work well though.

Wrapping in aluminum foil works. Thicker is better, more wraps is better. But one wrap stopped my test call.

That depends what you're trying to solve. For a lot of people, they're still gonna need their phone. I don't think "Just use a walkie talkie bro" would read as very helpful advice to the average person.

If, however, you are the sort of person organizing a protest or other similar activity, yes, absolutely, walkie tallies are great. A lot of people who do serious political activism talk about how radio is still the most resilient communication method. Not fool-proof, you definitely need to study up on the limitations, but an invaluable tool to be aware of.

If you are going to a protest as a group, and you have the resources to invest a few hundred bucks, getting a set of walkie-talkies for the group plus a dedicated burner one responsible person to carry (maybe someone who will be in radio range but clear of the actual happenings) is also a solid strategy, but we also shouldn't be acting like "Going as a group" and "spending a few hundred dollars" are prerequisites for being politically active. There need to be solutions for everyone.

I think FRS is the only thing legally available without a license. You can buy GMRS radios on Amazon that will communicate with FRS radios on all of the FRS channels, see here:

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/FRS/GMRS_combined_channel_chart

However, these radios are VERY limited in an urban area with lots of concrete towers. In my experience the GMRS radios on "high power" really only go one little valley over out in the woods. In the city you might get two or three blocks because of all the concrete. You are required to have a license to use GMRS and identify your station every 15 minutes but almost nobody does it. Hell, I listen to the local walmart using GMRS and you're not even supposed to use it for commercial purposes.

Maybe Meshtastic? That's a radio I haven't messed with and I don't know about it's performance in an urban environment.

Ear piece highly recommended. The audio is not like a phone call and in a loud environment you will not be able to copy. Practice beforehand because radio is not like a phone call, you need to have some experience.

Yes. You can get them cheap online and they have a built in “encryption” function that isn’t well protected but might prevent people from listening in realtime.

Yeah. I see so many protesters with their face not covered. Cover your face!!!

Also, dress like them. You want to create as much confusion as possible.

What's the plan for having your phone at home?

#00 inserts for my pump action wireless hole punch.

Lol, lmao even. That's some careful word play for the sake of unneccesary hyperbole.

They have shot innocent white American citizens. In some other places they have gone door to door. Those are independent actions, not a combined reality. We can all agree they're god awful as a massive understatement without lying about door to door murder squads.

Inb4 "if you have to make that kind of distinction you're already fucked" yeah, we are, but accurate information about the ground situation is vital for any forward movement.

Not relevant. Unless you use airplane mode, it will be visible that your phone was at the place.