https://www.cnet.com/google-amp/news/how-to-maintain-your-digital-privacy-at-protests/
Phones can be an important tool for protesters, but police can also use them to track you. Follow these best practices to keep yourself secure. Javage Logan/Getty Images
Digital privacy has always been a concern for activists, who take precautions to make sure oppressive government regimes can't track them down and silence their advocacy. With daily protests happening across the US, thousands of people are finding themselves becoming activists for the first time.
Protesters have taken to the streets in a number of cities to demonstrate against police brutality after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died when an officer pinned his knee against Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. The officers involved have been arrested and charged, but police continue to escalate forceful measures against protesters exercising their First Amendment rights.
If you're attending a protest, you know the risk of surveillance is high. Police have used tools like warrants to amass information on large crowds, social media surveillance to monitor protesters and facial recognition to identify people.
There are other surveillance tools, like using IMSI catchers, often known as Stingrays, to pose as phone towers and intercept text messages and signals from phones. There's a wide range of ways police can track and surveil protesters, and that's without turning to third parties like location data brokers selling information to law enforcement or partnerships with companies like Amazon's Ring.
The Drug Enforcement Administration also now has blanket authority to conduct secret surveillance against protesters, according to a memo obtained by BuzzFeed News.
The following is a quick list of suggestions on how to protect your digital privacy as you exercise your right to protest. To get more information on each one, read on. You should note that given the US government's arsenal of surveillance tools, these recommendations aren't foolproof, but they're important safeguards if you're heading to a protest: