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The protester's guide to smartphone security

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Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#61

Post by briHass »

gruez wrote: post #52
kevindamm wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reasoning behind this is that your fingerprints and face etc. are public knowledge. Whereas you can retain your right to remain silent (about your password/PIN), failing to provide these aspects of your person can be viewed as not cooperating.

>The reasoning behind this is that your fingerprints and face etc. are public knowledge. Not really. You can be compelled to give blood sample for alcohol testing, but your blood is hardly "public knowledge". Same thing with strip searches.

That is usually due to 'implied consent' laws. Most states have it written into what you sign to get your license that you must submit to DUI testing. Generally, you can refuse, but the penalty for refusal is worse than the DUI penalty.

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#62

Post by arcanemachiner »

tomphoolery wrote: post #11

> However, in this situation it may make more sense to disable biometric authentication. In Face ID, there's a setting that requires direct eye contact in order to open your phone. Highly recommend enabling this when feeling insecure about someone forcing you to open your phone (if it's not already on by default) because it means somebody forcing you to open your phone with Face ID can be easily defeated by simply cl…

On an iPhone, you can click the power button 5 times to disable Face ID until the next time you enter your PIN.

Depending on your settings, this may also call 911 automatically, but that can be canceled.

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#63

Post by nightpool »

iseanstevens wrote: post #55

Also Meshtastic.org is a cheap (various It supports strong encryption layer and over 1 km/mile per “hop” in most circumstances. Designed originally for off grid, it’s very flexible and pretty polished. Abstracts your phone into a UI. Has a whole ecosystem behind it. I’ve been using it for festivals and tracking my vehicles (high theft area) for years. Very handy should infra not be available. Should be great for prot…

This would depend on your phone being able to permanently disable its radio, right? I don't know if I would trust my phone well enough for that, I would be worried even in airplane mode about it making some small beacon checks.

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#64

Post by AlphaCerium »

snypher wrote: post #54
theoreticalmal wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t both Apple and Android implement random BT MAC addresses specifically to prevent this kind of tracking?

How about my smartwatch, or my $29 earbuds? They are always conveniently near the 'random mac' and can be used to fingerprint.

don't bring them to a protest, simple :)

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#65

Post by liontwist »

MengerSponge wrote: post #60
liontwist wrote: post #56

I don’t understand the issue. Protesting is legal. Are we advocating for illegal activity?

1) Protesting is illegal in many parts of the world. 2) Authoritarians have been known to act illegally to solidify their power.

Are we imagining only “good guys” will be the ones breaking the law?

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#66

Post by rightbyte »

nxobject wrote: post #23
jMyles wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't take identifiable pics of people without consent Hard disagree. Public events are public events. My conclusion, based on experience at street protests, historic trends, and current political events, is that there have been significant actions by provocateurs over the past decade or more, and particularly in Portland in 2020. Taking and posting pictures of these people is an important act. It the internet age…

As another Portlander, disagree with exceptions: surveillance footage made it harder to identify people from top down angles, and it meant that a lot of people had their charges dismissed because of that. (I will need to look it up.) The bigger risk to a protest movement, I would argue, is an opposing agent provocateurs trying to get people doxxed. That risk to more people outweighs getting minority of provocateurs s…

>The bigger risk to a protest movement, I would argue, is an opposing agent provocateurs trying to get people doxxed.

That wouldn't be an agent provocateur right?

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#67

Post by liontwist »

Almondsetat wrote: post #58
liontwist wrote: post #56

I don’t understand the issue. Protesting is legal. Are we advocating for illegal activity?

>Protesting is legal first of all, where? secondly, what has legality of protest got to do with privacy?

The concern of your phone being taken by authorities or capturing incriminating evidence

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#68

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

gruez wrote: post #57
WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #49

Old phones are an underappreciated resource, imo. I keep a few handsets around for apps I don't want on my daily driver (ex:food ordering, 2FA). More in line with the article: For alternate cell/SMS service I have a RedPocket SIM. (note: I see now it's $45/yr on ebay. I'm paying less, prob grandfathered).

>Old phones are an underappreciated resource, imo. Not really. Old phones don't receive security patches and can be trivially unlocked to extract all relevant information. Sure, it might not have your nudes or bank login, but if you're using it to coordinate the protest that's plenty of incriminating evidence for the police. >For alternate cell/SMS service I have a RedPocket SIM. (note: I see now it's $45/yr on ebay.…

> Not really. Old phones don't receive security patches.

For a phone that was off until 2 hours ago and it's only login is the app they comm with, there don't seem to be a lot of meaningful risk vectors.

> and can be trivially unlocked to extract all relevant information.

The unlocker will maybe get one app login and 2 hours of location data.

> if you're using it to coordinate the protest that's plenty of incriminating evidence for the police.

It's one app login and 2 hours of location data. Most of that same info can be gleaned by directly observing the individual.

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#69

Post by tonymet »

cmxch wrote: post #32

A sufficiently motivated state actor will have little issue with finding what they want/need, no matter what measures are taken.

protesters deal with various agencies from private security, city police on up to federal FBI etc. These measures will help in the most common scenarios and prevent further escalation. 99.999% of protestors are not going against NSA counter-intel teams, they are encountering low-level private security or police who escalate the situation.

Every security practice is a risk/reward. The measures being offered here are no-cost measures which can reduce the exposure of evidence to casual security / police.

Re: The protester's guide to smartphone security

#70

Post by tejtm »

gruez wrote: post #50
raybb wrote: post #48

404 Media just released a great related article "The Powerful AI Tool That Cops (or Stalkers) Can Use to Geolocate Photos in Seconds" https://www.404media.co/the-powerful-ai-tool-that-cops-or-st...

What does this have to do with protests? Aren't protests by definition events where the organizers want people to be aware of?

Protest also attract polarizing provocateurs, you may not want to be associated with all that is done in your name.
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