Anti-Racism Toolkit

What do I want to protect? Assets
Who do I want to protect it from? Adversaries
How bad are the consequences if I fail? Potential Threats
How likely is it that I will need to protect it?  Adversaries’ Capabilities
How much trouble am I willing to go through to try to prevent potential consequences? Appetite for Risk

Here are some precautions you can take to keep you and your mobile data safe:

1. Plan for bad service - In large groups the mobile cellular infrastructure can quickly become overwhelmed making your phone largely useless, so don't depend on phone communication alone. Have a predetermined meeting place with protest buddies and pre-download any maps you need to your phone.

2. Enable full-disk encryption on your device - If your phone is lost or confiscated, this will help protect your data.

3. Remove biometric lock/unlock and use a strong passcode instead - There is less legal protection for forcing you to unlock with a face or a fingerprint than for forcing the disclosure of a password.

4. Send all messages at or about protests using secure messaging - The Signal app—a free end-to-end encrypted messaging service provided by a nonprofit without ads or tracking—is a great option for secure messaging.

5. Consider putting your device in airplane mode - This prevents the device from transmitting and prevents your location from being tracked. It also means you won't be able to send or receive calls, so plan accordingly if you chose this option.

6. Remove unnecessary apps from your phone and re-download them later - This means less information about you will be on your phone, and there will be fewer apps that could possibly be background tracking. 

7. Disable location services until you need them

8. Disable Bluetooth unless you need it 

9. Don't rely on you phone to store any emergency numbers you may need. It's safest to write them directly on your body.

While you may not have your computer with you at the protest, it's still important to keep your computer secure if you use it for any organizing.

1. Consider alternatives to Facebook and Twitter - While nice for communicating with a large audience, public pages can be seen by anyone, including law enforcement, and even private pages may be subject to a court order. Secure messaging, like Signal, is a good option for disseminating any information that may be sensitive.

2. If you run a website for your cause, make sure it's secure from cyber attacks - Options like Project Galileo allow organizations working in the arts, human rights, civil society, journalism, or democracy to apply to get Cloudflare’s cyber security protection for free.

3. Consider who can access your browser data - Chrome and Safari harvest browsing data for Google and Apple. Firefox is maintained by the non-profit Mozilla Corporation and is privacy-forward. Tor is even more secure against monitoring.

4. Use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN - Browsing while connected to a VPN protects your data from actors outside the network.

5. Use secure passwords - The GU community has free access to LastPass Premium, a password generator and keeper.