I have a question that might seem a little dumb. In your infographics about what to do during a protest, when you said “don’t post about it online” does this strictly refer to people who are planning protests & stuff like that or does it apply to everybody who is reblogging videos of what’s happening during the protests/riots, etc? I’m sorry if this question is stupid haha im just wondering thank you so much!
hey! that’s not a dumb question at all, no worries! (infographic, resources) this is going to get kinda long so scroll to the bottom for a summary.
“don’t post about it online” kind of covers all of the above. for people who are organizing, they shouldn’t be publicly posting about “was just at the [city] protest yesterday!” because that will help get them identified and tracked down. social media is being monitored and theres a whole list of keywords to avoid. many twitter users have been placed on government watchlists already / been contacted by the authorities in their homes due to posting about demonstrations (here’s one example but there’s cases of more - apparently someone got ip banned so every twitter they try to make gets suspended).
(thread of how to organize on social media & still be safe / untraceable)
(thread of communication apps that use end to end encryption)
it’s best to leave ur phone at home bc cops are using stingray to find ppls social media & info, but that’s simply not possible for everybody so here are some more tips on how to deal with that. if the police show up at your home, please read this thread on your rights & the correct procedure wrt dealing w/ cops before opening ur door.
for those who are sharing videos of whats happening, there’s some nuance involved! taking & spreading uncensored photos of protestors with their face or other features visible is DANGEROUS and will put the people in the pictures at risk. we live in a surveillance state. protestors from ferguson have been murdered or “disappeared under uncertain circumstances” (meaning the govt covered up their murder) after their pictures went viral.
the safest things to do is to make sure nobody’s faces are visible, and also censor the whole body with a black box (because blurring can be undone with the right technology). covering the whole body is important because by looking at footage on social media of protests, cops can take multiple images from different angles and discern the identity of someone that way; things like designs on clothing, shoes, etc can be noted & they can keep their eyes out for the person who was wearing that specific article of clothing later. if you see somebody taking pictures of people’s faces, PLEASE let them know immediately to quit that shit. if they persist feel free to knock their camera/phone out of their hands. there are white supremacists in the streets who are taking pics of people to hand over to hate groups & authorities.
footage is important for documentation purposes, ESPECIALLY when its the pigs doing something horrible or if you need evidence in court to prove a protestors innocence, but we need to be extremely careful with how we’re sharing and who we’re sharing it with. teen vogue made a great guide on how to effectively film police. an instance where it would be okay to spread pictures of people is when protestors go missing and we are trying to track them down, OR when individuals are arrested and people need to contact precincts/jails/etc to find them.
also something important to note is if you’re posting something, you need to screenshot the original instead of posting the original, because the metadata stored in a photo can snitch on you and reveal info on time/location, etc. here’s a tool somebody made for scrubbing metadata, but screenshotting is easier/faster/your best bet. better safe than sorry.
if you cant be at a demonstration, you can help by providing support from your home. donations and petitions are helpful but reconnaissance, jail support, transportation, & supply runs are very tangible and real things you can do to support ppl on the ground. if you are in contact with somebody doing the above, or if you Are somebody who is doing the above, please be sure that at least one person in the group has access to a phone so that everybody can be in communication. make sure to follow the earlier tips on how to be untraceable, if possible!
tl;dr please don’t post any of this shit on social media i am begging you. be careful with the posts that you circulate because there is a very very real possibility of y’all endangering people. people have been tracked down by authorities and with the way things are right now, we need to actively protect people from that kind of risk. thank you, stay safe!
*i realize that the majority of these sources are from twitter, but twitter is very much where most of the info is coming from rn
