Going to a protest? Here’s how to protect digital data

the killing of George Floyd for the Minneapolis Police hand, at the latest in a sad drumbeat of similar deaths over the years has triggered protests denounce racism and the accusation of abuse of power in the world. Death May 25 Floyd have largely gone unnoticed, has been performing several spectators smartphone has been registered, the forced recordings in America, finally, with the dangers expect black Americans mistakenly easy to do when you leave the house. And as police authorities of the United States largely peaceful protests have reacted with disproportionate force, smart phone movies provided decisive evidence refuting official descriptions of the harrowing events. Although the protesters are turning their smartphones as a means to capture their experiences on the field, the same device can be used against them. groups of law enforcement officials must identify digital monitoring tools, such as the towers of false cellular telephony and Face Detection technology which can be used demonstrators and monitor their movements and communication. In addition, investigators and prosecutors are cellular suspicion as a potential treasure trove of information about them and their employees, see Legal disputes about personal technology and structure of constitutional rights Americans. And while the protesters within their rights images and videos to take on the protests, images that could lead to unwanted consequences for participants gather vulnerable. What should peaceful demonstrators know their digital privacy before a demonstration purposes? Here are some things you should keep in mind. can generate its preparation protest Keeping private data protesters who were aware before a police demonstration led guarantees a person’s search history, chat logs and social media messages problem, experts say. (Social media companies, including Facebook, have special pages to give police “tests with an official investigation in connection with collecting,” the police an easy way to access information.) Quintin Cooper, official technologist at product privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation recommends that the protesters do as a first step to their private accounts social media. “[The police] go through social media for images of people looking that are related to the protest, or groups that organize people attend a protest,” said Quintin. He adds that the demonstrators would also be wise to be skeptical of online contact attempts. “The police could groped to add you as a friend, and they can be successful, one that brigade there too,” he says. You could hide their traffic Internet Service organizers called a virtual private network support. Finding a trusted VPN is a chore in and of itself, but resources such as this provide the site’s privacy useful comparison tables. Alternatively, you can use tools like the Gate browser, masks blocked the online activities as Tracker users and their multiple encrypted network traffic. (No one tool that can provide 100% privacy, of course.) In the meantime, all protest related organizations should rather than end-to-end encrypted applications are made as text messages (also known as SMS), he says Daniel Kahn Gillmor, senior technologist at the American civil Liberties Union. The signal is a favorite that works on all platforms, the iPhone means users chat with the owners of Android and vice versa. “It is not protected by the [SMS] content, and the goal of these messages is not protected,” he says. The optional smartphone, can be difficult, that type used by surveillance of law enforcement technology any group during a specific event to say for sure. But a popular system that Stingray is essentially a fake cell phone tower that tricks cell phones to connect to it, then collect the data from these devices. With this type of technology in mind, it may be wise for the protesters to simply leave their phones at home before going to a protest when an event is particularly crowded, may have difficulty getting a good signal anyway. When they go sans-phone, it is wise to take a seat in advance to gather with friends when they are separated, bring a paper map of the protest zone and do not hold any significant contact information on them at all times. But when a demonstrator carries his cell phone, they can certainly take steps to ensure twist off their plane data or methods could help, for example. It could not hurt off location data, too. To do this on an iPhone, go to the Settings app, Privacy, then Location Services to selectively or completely turn off Location Services for all applications. Android users? Visit the Settings app, select Privacy, then administrator permissions can see which applications can access which pieces of data, including location, call history and contacts. From there you can turn off or on depending on what applications you decide. (Think mind this is not taken completely out of the network, such as companies like Google have said that collect location data even when users permissions to turn off, with the statement that the company requires the user with location data their services.) what is a Brenner phone? Those who are truly concerned that their cell phone a “burner” tracked could get a unit of cash paid and pre-paid for the express purpose of keeping in touch with people during a peaceful protest. Brenner phones can provide users with the benefits of being able to stay in touch with people, especially when things become difficult, exposed without the data on your device every day. “If something happens to your phone, you do not want to lose all your belongings. If you do not want all the details of your life in a foreign hands”, says Harlo Holmes, head of digital security news department, with freedom of the press of the foundation. blocking “It ‘s really about protecting data when you bring it in, what could be a strange situation.” Another option is a telephone in which a “Faraday Bag” called cases designed input and output signals, effectively seals the device from the outside world. But some experts argue that it is useful or necessary. “I think it’s just easier to turn off your phone in airplane mode, is the same goal achieved,” says Quintin EFF. Think nationally through photos and videos, the wide facial recognition technology police from companies like NEC and Clearview AI, some of which may be used to identify protesters following demonstrations through photographs or video of the event. While it’s possible concerns that the police know you were in a protest, this calculation can be different for the other participants, the less legal protection in the US as illegal immigrants. Moreover, in the context of law enforcement, face detection technology is still new and unproven technology, sometimes leads to erroneous identifications and arrests, especially if misused. The New York Police Department, for example, after being allegedly criticized with actor Woody Harrelson in “match” photos with a suspect in 2017 (The Department of the New York Police refused to comment on the use of Harrelson especially pictures, but the spokesman Sgt. Jessica McRorie said this case is one to compare with “more than 5,300 requests” to the facial identification section of the department this year. “the police in New Yorkere used facial recognition as a tool of survey limited to a still image from a surveillance video for a pool legitimately owned arrest photos, “said McRorie.) However, because of the prejudices inherent in the technology of face recognition software is particularly bad proven facial recognition to black people right than those of other races to identify an error that supporters say puts the highest blacks Americans at risk false identifi ed tion and stopping. “We are in the middle of a riot of historical greatness, with hundreds of thousands of people who are already active and potentially millions in the days and weeks of income,” wrote Joy Buolamwini, founder of algorithmic Justice League, which fights against prejudice artificial intelligence, in a recent essay. “At these scales, and small error rates in a large number of people reported for arrest and can lead targeted incorrectly.” It ‘also stored in an image conscious information to be wise themselves, known as “metadata”. This information such as the time and date contains a photo was taken, the type of phone used to record the image, and, depending on the settings of a user who also show the data on the location where the photo was taken . All these data can be used to identify a photographer or people in their photos. (A trick of a censor photo metadata. Dark Faces facial recognition software to counter, take a screenshot of the photo, then screenshots actions instead of the original photo) Of course it is important to document police brutality, if this can be done safely , These recordings can be crucial that violent incidents occurred in reality. “The best way to go about it to keep it as simple as possible and to be the people with the knowledge that around,” says Holmes. Finally, wearing a mask can protect the demonstrators from both face detection and COVID-19 “It ‘s important because you do not want viruses spread or take the virus out,” said Quintin. “It ‘s also important because the face recognition will be used increasingly becoming a regular tool of law enforcement.” He suggests polarized glasses tightening and covers all the unique tattoos and hairstyles flashy coloring. What if you stopped? When a protester arrested or detained by police during a peaceful demonstration, they can ask for their phone, or to remove the material. You can reject the information on a search for their consent smartphone, but things legally complicated from there. While some US judges have ruled that an arrest warrant to force someone to get her phone to unlock with biometric, like a trick of fingerprints, others have a Fourth Amendment violation to put the raids notice and / or Fifth Protection Amendment as against self-incrimination. In 2016, a California federal judge ruled that a compelling suspect must unlock their smartphone with a fingerprint fifth change is not violated, because fingerprints physical properties that can not be passed at will (as an access code a person store). But he decided in 2019, a federal judge in an unrelated case, research involving various devices that the use of biometrics forcing electronic devices to unlock is a violation of both the fourth and fifth amendments. However, the legal uncertainty regarding the practice was reason enough for the protesters to leave their home phone to look, or a burner collect, before leaving
protest Picture of Javage copyright Logan -. Xinhua / Getty Images