CHICAGO, IL — I’m a tech worker living in Chicago. In the past few years I’ve been on a mission to teach activists, journalists, and lawyers how to protect themselves against electronic surveillance. To many that seems like an unrealistic goal. With frequent reports of the Orwellian surveillance capabilities of the state, many succumb to nihilism, assuming resistance is futile.
The first time a fellow activist told me they weren’t willing to attend a free class to protect themselves I was floored. At first I assumed it was because I was a stranger. As I grew in my relationships with community organizers I saw a pattern emerge. Most people just don’t know what they’re trying to protect against. It doesn’t help that non-technical journalists almost always misrepresent technologically complex subject matter.
What’s at stake here is, I think, best characterized by the following quote: “If I know every single thing about you, about what you think, how you reason, what your fears are, what your planning, what you’re doing, and you know nothing about me . . . The power imbalance between us is immense because I can now manipulate you, I can threaten you, I can alter your behavior, I can anticipate your behavior, I can always stay many steps ahead of you.” (Glenn Greenwald, “The Hacker Wars”)
When organizers use tools like Facebook or text messaging to coordinate efforts, we put a ceiling on our potential for success. Even as non-organizers, many are uneasy about the collection of personal data by corporations or even your ISP. S.J.Res.34 has passed both the House and Senate and if signed into law will allow your Internet provider to monitor your activities and sell the information for profit. The good news is that tools like Signal and Tor have proven successful at curtailing surveillance capabilities without inconveniencing the users. They act as drop-in replacements for the tools we’re already using.
Even if you don’t think you have anything to protect, you should use them for the people who do. They prevent service providers from storing your activities, so dragnet surveillance could be abolished if everyone in the world used them. Each person would have to be targeted individually and that makes the work of three-letter agencies far more impractical. That isn’t to say surveillance would go away, just that collecting the communications of everyone and storing them indefinitely would become a thing of the past.
There is a very thorough and recent guide on Surveillance Self-defense, which can be found at https://ssd.eff.org. It outlines the best tools available currently as well as the security mindset required to minimize the risk of improper use.
We are up against powerful adversaries. It has never been a more important time for individuals to take action, and the technology to empower us isn’t reserved for any color, class, or creed. The laws of mankind are subject to the interpretation of those enforcing them, but the laws of mathematics are governed by the physical universe and can’t be broken. Use them to your advantage!
