Leave it at home and, if you need a phone, take a burner that doesn’t have your personal data and isn’t logged into any of your accounts.

Leave it at home.

While leaving it behind is best for privacy, the article touches on some reasons people bring them anyway

Leaving your phone behind means the data it holds and transmits will be the safest it will ever be, but it also means giving up access to important resources. It becomes much more difficult to coordinate with others, or get updates from social media. For many, phone cameras are also the only way they can document what’s happening.

If you have access to a separate phone, whether it’s a “burner” phone, an old smartphone that you can reset, or an old-fashioned camera, you could choose to bring these devices instead of your regularly-used phone. However, not everyone has access to these devices, or can afford to purchase a separate phone just for protesting.

Layer one: "front line": folks should be acting on passive listen/pushed information from folks far back that will not get kettled or trapped. Media they collect should be Livestreamed for safe storage... But they should be focused on non violent protest, emit the protest message and find/eject bad actors. Equipment should be "burner" quality, wiped and purpose setup with the expectation of seizure.

Layer 2: "observe, document, report": folks should be using encrypted apps to communicate, and should intend to not be arrested, and to collect as much quality content as possible. These folks should be ready to be arrested, but avoid as possible.

Layer 3: "coordinate": these folks should be digesting all possible data about risks, police activity, lawful orders, movements, etc. They should be feeding information about proper actions. They should use encrypted tools but plan to avoid arrest.

This is all hypothetical.

Just leave your phone at home, and bring a Digital camera, and few SD Cards ... Oh, wait.. < insert company name here > makes Cameras that spy on you... nevermind...

maybe we should hire a fast sketching artist to draw police brutality ... What.!... your pencil can track you now... come...ooooonnn

Phones are tracking devices. Do not bring your phone, not even turned off because many phones emit Bluetooth beacons and other data that can be recorded and traced.

If you bring a phone, make sure that phone has no idea who you are.

Pretty good stuff.

However I read many reactions : "don't take your phone with you" This is a common issue in a lot of activist place to don't ask ourselves why people are acting like this ? before telling them to stop. They may have good reasons, and in a case of protests, there is.

• Filming the cops : I don't know in the US, but in a lot of countries, cops are less violent when they know someone is filming them. This may help people harmed by the police, in giving them evidence, or helping mobilization in the futur. After mass arrestation, it could be hard to know how as been arrested or not; some legal support hotline ask this kind of evidence for this reasons. Of course this some sensitive material, and need to be secured too. For example, the cops may target you if you are filming them.

• Calling the legal support hotline : Some of them ask to be called just after arrestation or cops actions, to make a precise report. You could call them when someone you know have been attacked or kidnapped by the police.

• Call medial support : I don't know how the emergency number is linked with the repressive force in the US, but in a lot of country, it's not. Even if it's rare, it could be a vital issue.

All this actions are important and individuals should compare the risks they take in taking them and what we lost in not acting like that. Of course this risks have to be documented; with flyers at the start of a protests for example.

I would recommend to mutualise actions to decentralize risks. Make a team with one or two people with burned phone and dedicated camera (paid by everyone); let your other phones at home. Stay (at least) by pair, and keep in eye someone with a phone.

They may be better plan of actions, but we couldn't just let down cop watch ant street medic just for the illusion of individual safety. Such thing simply do not exist

Don't take it with you, or have a faraday bag and only take it put when you're done

I'm waiting for the first mass protest that utilizes Lora communications

Come on noobs, get with the times!

Anything with Bluetooth is a ID vector.

And since Apple AirTag tech is a thing there are other ID capabilities.

Maybe a Faraday bag to cut all radio.

imagine not being a gigachad bringing your nintendo 3ds, that actually has a physical switch to disable wireless communication and can record videos and take pictures ~~that totally don't look like they're from 2011~~

I wouldn't even bring my phone, or if I absolutely needed something like that, I'd buy a cheapass pre-paid burner. And keep it off until you actually need it.

Signal & WhatsApp are not secure enough. Meta/Facebook regularly give data & metatadata to the cops & Signal is centralized & not self-hosted by your crew so while messages are encrypted, the metadata still isn’t. If you must use Signal, I would pick Molly as an Android client since you can a) encrypt the messages under a separate password for storage on seizure & b) you can use the UnifiedPush version to make sure your notification metadata isn’t going thru Google’s Firebase servers. Protests are the ideal place for Briar as it is works via mesh net so internet & SIM cards are not required (but years ago wden I tried it, the app was a major battery drainer).

Calyx OS on a Pixel