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Cell Phone Guide For US Protesters, Updated 2014 Edition

170 points by panarky 12y ago

jeffrey8chang 12y ago
For the point of "Start using encrypted communications channels" while protesting, here's a way to encrypt your voice: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/620001568/jackpair-safeguard-your-phone-conversation https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/620001568/jackpair-safe... It's a low-cost alternative to BlackPhone etc.
- rg3 12y ago
  If you already have an Android phone, I guess the RedPhone app is the most convenient and cheap way to make encrypted voice calls. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.redphone https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri...
  - jeffrey8chang 12y ago
    The other party you called must use Android phone + RedPhone app as well.
    - 13throwaway 12y ago
      Redphone can talk to iPhone users with the signal app.
rdl 12y ago
A key thing is to memorize or write-on-your-arm-in-ink the phone number of your lawyer or other support person in the event you're arrested; you may not have access to your phone. (The only numbers I can recall offhand are Apple's customer support number from 20 years ago (which is now a phone-sex line), a special/other "in case of kidnapping" number which is an Iraqi cellphone and disconnected or something, and Comcast Business Support. None of which would really help me now.)
- sneak 12y ago
  > Apple's customer support number from 20 years ago (which is now a phone-sex line), no, 800-SOS-APPL is still Apple's old support line. You are dialing S-zero-S, which has always been a phone sex line.
  - rdl 12y ago
    +1 800 776 2333 is the number I meant (which was how I got to apple dev stuff back in ~1993 when I was 14 and had nothing else to do)
- mikeash 12y ago
  Is that really necessary? It's not like the police can say, well, you don't have the phone number of a lawyer immediately accessible, so we'll just deny you your fundamental right to have one. I guess you might end up spending more time in jail than if you can get someone to help get you out, or something like that, but you're not going to be railroaded to trial just because you didn't prepare a lawyer in advance, as long as you assert your right to have one present.
  - rdl 12y ago
    The point is to let people know ASAP that you've been taken, and to get out on bail ASAP. I agree it won't prevent you from getting a lawyer at trial, but I personally think spending time in jail is highly distasteful and something I'd like to minimize. (I've never actually been arrested, though, and my only time in jails or prisons has been fixing medical equipment in them.)
josai 12y ago
> ask to speak to your attorney > ask to speak to your lawyer > you will need an attorney to help you sort through your particular circumstance Do normal people in the US always and at all times have a lawyer on call? Especially the type of person likely to be arrested at a protest (not that there's anything wrong with that - I just doubt they're the 1%). I'm in my late thirties and certainly don't have a lawyer on standby I can call at the drop of a hat. This "advice" always seems, if not disingenuous, at least a little naive.
- jambo 12y ago
  I don't think so, looking around at my peers. In the US, you have the right to publicly funded counsel if you are arrested, so the advice might better be put, "Am I free to go? <no> Am I under arrest, or am I free to go? <you are under arrest> I am exercising my right not to speak with you and would like to speak with a lawyer".
  - mfb 12y ago
    In the US it's not uncommon for protesters to have a lawyer, in the form of organizations like the National Lawyers Guild which offer legal support at demonstrations. Protesters typically scrawl the phone number for the NLG legal hotline on their arm, so they are able to call from jail.
  - watwut 12y ago
    You can get publicly funded counsel only if you are poor enough and unable to afford own lawyer. And public defenders tend to be overworked and underfunded, so it is not like they will give you too much personal attention.
    - dannypgh 12y ago
      In my experience you'll consult with a PD at your arraignment even if you don't qualify for a PD (for everything beyond summary offenses). They will give you the good advice of staying quiet, and stand next to you before the judge, and generally they might help you ask for bail or to otherwise get out at your arraignment. If it's earlier in the arrest- e.g. at the police station- if they want to question you and you don't have a lawyer they need to get you one, and in theory this could be a PD. I don't have first hand experience with that, mostly because there's little point in the police bothering to question anyone who asks for a lawyer in 99.9% of cases. The lawyer will tell their client to not answer anything and the client should heed the advice.
Aloha 12y ago
I'd also suggest that CDMA2000 is at least slightly more secure that GSM - its somewhat harder to perform a man in the middle on.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- colanderman 12y ago
  What does the BBC have to do with this article?
  - tedunangst 12y ago
    Freedom!
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
johncoltrane 12y ago
* Don't use any technology before, during or after a protest. * Wear something that you can throw away. * Don't wear recognizable brands or symbols. * Hide your face. * Cover every visible part of your skin. Protests and riots are all fun and games until you are part of the last roundup and you finally have time to figure out that protesting will never change anything to what you are protesting against.
- thenmar 12y ago
  What about the civil rights movement?
- Zikes 12y ago
  > protesting will never change anything I'm sure the British said the same thing in 1775.
  - mikeash 12y ago
    Protesting didn't really change anything there. A long campaign of organized violence did. There are far better examples of effective protests than the American revolution.
ejr 12y ago
While useful for communication, recording via smartphone is still a tricky affair. This was listed on HN recently, and as soon as it becomes available, it may be a more viable option for recording video than a smartphone camera or even a GoPro http://www.polaroid.com/cube http://www.polaroid.com/cube It also has no bright screen to draw attention to itself and the small form factor makes it easier to mount in clothing and, if you have enough time to do so, the MicroSD card is easy to remove and conceal/transfer if you need to hand over the camera.
- GoodIntentions 12y ago
  1968: Get busted at protest, get searched for weed. 2014: Get busted at protest, get searched for data. We're living in odd times.
- A_COMPUTER 12y ago
  Coming soon to a police state near you, dogs trained to smell sd cards: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140707/11434227803/rhode-island-cops-now-using-dogs-to-detect-hard-drives-memory-cards-other-electronics.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140707/11434227803/rhode...
chatmasta 12y ago
It's amusing to think of how much of this article would be complete gibberish to the framers of the constitution. They literally would have no idea what some of the words mean: - "they'll be carrying phones" What's a phone? Is that some sort of musket? - "Modern smartphones" I hope the British don't have those too! - "encrypted communications channels" Hey, somebody tell Revere to speak in code while he's shouting that stuff from his horse. - "social media" What in the blimey is that? - "End-to-end encryption does not protect your meta-data." Hey Jefferson, this looks like one of your convoluted sentences from the first draft. Nobody's gonna understand that stuff.
- ejr 12y ago
  They had access to quite interesting cryptography tools as well, such as a cipher disks : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher_disk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher_disk And see : http://slclip.wikispaces.com/Cryptology+during+the+US+war+of+independence+and+the+US+civil+war http://slclip.wikispaces.com/Cryptology+during+the+US+war+of... There's an interesting article by Lee Taylor on civil war codes and encryption too http://chesapeakesignals.com/encrypt.htm http://chesapeakesignals.com/encrypt.htm
- mikeash 12y ago
  And yet, everyone seems to be obsessed with figuring out how the words of these long-dead fellows applies to stuff they never would have imagined rather than trying to figure out what would make good policy today. Founding-fatherism is basically the unofficial state religion of the US now.
ryandrake 12y ago
Surprisingly, the obvious and fairly fool-proof "If you're going to go protest, leave your phone at home" didn't seem to be among the advice given.
- spiritplumber 12y ago
  If you're going to a protest, spend $10 on a tracfone. They have cameras anyway.
deegles 12y ago
Do these recommendations also apply if a person is in the country under a visa?

170 points by panarky 12y ago

For the point of "Start using encrypted communications channels" while protesting, here's a way to encrypt your voice: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/620001568/jackpair-safeguard-your-phone-conversation https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/620001568/jackpair-safe... It's a low-cost alternative to BlackPhone etc.

rg3 12y ago
If you already have an Android phone, I guess the RedPhone app is the most convenient and cheap way to make encrypted voice calls. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.redphone https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri...
- jeffrey8chang 12y ago
  The other party you called must use Android phone + RedPhone app as well.
  - 13throwaway 12y ago
    Redphone can talk to iPhone users with the signal app.

rdl 12y ago

A key thing is to memorize or write-on-your-arm-in-ink the phone number of your lawyer or other support person in the event you're arrested; you may not have access to your phone. (The only numbers I can recall offhand are Apple's customer support number from 20 years ago (which is now a phone-sex line), a special/other "in case of kidnapping" number which is an Iraqi cellphone and disconnected or something, and Comcast Business Support. None of which would really help me now.)

sneak 12y ago
> Apple's customer support number from 20 years ago (which is now a phone-sex line), no, 800-SOS-APPL is still Apple's old support line. You are dialing S-zero-S, which has always been a phone sex line.
- rdl 12y ago
  +1 800 776 2333 is the number I meant (which was how I got to apple dev stuff back in ~1993 when I was 14 and had nothing else to do)
mikeash 12y ago
Is that really necessary? It's not like the police can say, well, you don't have the phone number of a lawyer immediately accessible, so we'll just deny you your fundamental right to have one. I guess you might end up spending more time in jail than if you can get someone to help get you out, or something like that, but you're not going to be railroaded to trial just because you didn't prepare a lawyer in advance, as long as you assert your right to have one present.
- rdl 12y ago
  The point is to let people know ASAP that you've been taken, and to get out on bail ASAP. I agree it won't prevent you from getting a lawyer at trial, but I personally think spending time in jail is highly distasteful and something I'd like to minimize. (I've never actually been arrested, though, and my only time in jails or prisons has been fixing medical equipment in them.)

josai 12y ago

> ask to speak to your attorney > ask to speak to your lawyer > you will need an attorney to help you sort through your particular circumstance Do normal people in the US always and at all times have a lawyer on call? Especially the type of person likely to be arrested at a protest (not that there's anything wrong with that - I just doubt they're the 1%). I'm in my late thirties and certainly don't have a lawyer on standby I can call at the drop of a hat. This "advice" always seems, if not disingenuous, at least a little naive.

jambo 12y ago
I don't think so, looking around at my peers. In the US, you have the right to publicly funded counsel if you are arrested, so the advice might better be put, "Am I free to go? <no> Am I under arrest, or am I free to go? <you are under arrest> I am exercising my right not to speak with you and would like to speak with a lawyer".
- mfb 12y ago
  In the US it's not uncommon for protesters to have a lawyer, in the form of organizations like the National Lawyers Guild which offer legal support at demonstrations. Protesters typically scrawl the phone number for the NLG legal hotline on their arm, so they are able to call from jail.
- watwut 12y ago
  You can get publicly funded counsel only if you are poor enough and unable to afford own lawyer. And public defenders tend to be overworked and underfunded, so it is not like they will give you too much personal attention.
  - dannypgh 12y ago
    In my experience you'll consult with a PD at your arraignment even if you don't qualify for a PD (for everything beyond summary offenses). They will give you the good advice of staying quiet, and stand next to you before the judge, and generally they might help you ask for bail or to otherwise get out at your arraignment. If it's earlier in the arrest- e.g. at the police station- if they want to question you and you don't have a lawyer they need to get you one, and in theory this could be a PD. I don't have first hand experience with that, mostly because there's little point in the police bothering to question anyone who asks for a lawyer in 99.9% of cases. The lawyer will tell their client to not answer anything and the client should heed the advice.

Aloha 12y ago

I'd also suggest that CDMA2000 is at least slightly more secure that GSM - its somewhat harder to perform a man in the middle on.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

colanderman 12y ago
What does the BBC have to do with this article?
- tedunangst 12y ago
  Freedom!
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

johncoltrane 12y ago

* Don't use any technology before, during or after a protest. * Wear something that you can throw away. * Don't wear recognizable brands or symbols. * Hide your face. * Cover every visible part of your skin. Protests and riots are all fun and games until you are part of the last roundup and you finally have time to figure out that protesting will never change anything to what you are protesting against.

thenmar 12y ago
What about the civil rights movement?
Zikes 12y ago
> protesting will never change anything I'm sure the British said the same thing in 1775.
- mikeash 12y ago
  Protesting didn't really change anything there. A long campaign of organized violence did. There are far better examples of effective protests than the American revolution.

ejr 12y ago

While useful for communication, recording via smartphone is still a tricky affair. This was listed on HN recently, and as soon as it becomes available, it may be a more viable option for recording video than a smartphone camera or even a GoPro http://www.polaroid.com/cube http://www.polaroid.com/cube It also has no bright screen to draw attention to itself and the small form factor makes it easier to mount in clothing and, if you have enough time to do so, the MicroSD card is easy to remove and conceal/transfer if you need to hand over the camera.

GoodIntentions 12y ago
1968: Get busted at protest, get searched for weed. 2014: Get busted at protest, get searched for data. We're living in odd times.
A_COMPUTER 12y ago
Coming soon to a police state near you, dogs trained to smell sd cards: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140707/11434227803/rhode-island-cops-now-using-dogs-to-detect-hard-drives-memory-cards-other-electronics.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140707/11434227803/rhode...

chatmasta 12y ago

It's amusing to think of how much of this article would be complete gibberish to the framers of the constitution. They literally would have no idea what some of the words mean: - "they'll be carrying phones" What's a phone? Is that some sort of musket? - "Modern smartphones" I hope the British don't have those too! - "encrypted communications channels" Hey, somebody tell Revere to speak in code while he's shouting that stuff from his horse. - "social media" What in the blimey is that? - "End-to-end encryption does not protect your meta-data." Hey Jefferson, this looks like one of your convoluted sentences from the first draft. Nobody's gonna understand that stuff.

ejr 12y ago
They had access to quite interesting cryptography tools as well, such as a cipher disks : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher_disk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher_disk And see : http://slclip.wikispaces.com/Cryptology+during+the+US+war+of+independence+and+the+US+civil+war http://slclip.wikispaces.com/Cryptology+during+the+US+war+of... There's an interesting article by Lee Taylor on civil war codes and encryption too http://chesapeakesignals.com/encrypt.htm http://chesapeakesignals.com/encrypt.htm
mikeash 12y ago
And yet, everyone seems to be obsessed with figuring out how the words of these long-dead fellows applies to stuff they never would have imagined rather than trying to figure out what would make good policy today. Founding-fatherism is basically the unofficial state religion of the US now.

ryandrake 12y ago

Surprisingly, the obvious and fairly fool-proof "If you're going to go protest, leave your phone at home" didn't seem to be among the advice given.

spiritplumber 12y ago
If you're going to a protest, spend $10 on a tracfone. They have cameras anyway.

deegles 12y ago

Do these recommendations also apply if a person is in the country under a visa?