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How to secure your phone before attending a protest
(www.theverge.com)
Leave. Your. Phone. At. Home.
Another easy tip to remember: if you have your device on you and you think it's going to be confiscated, TURN IT OFF.
LE has a very limited toolset when it comes to unlocking a device before it's first unlock when you boot it up.
Source: I work in this field
Yup. For the unaware, your phone is likely encrypted at startup, and uses your PIN/password as a key. So if you turn it off, they’ll have a hell of a time breaking into it.
At the very least, initiate an emergency mode. On iOS, this can be done by holding the lock and volume down buttons for a few seconds. It will show the “Emergency Dial” option, along with the power down option and the medical ID option. Once you have seen that screen, the phone is locked until the PIN is used. It disables all biometrics, so they can’t just use your face or thumb print to unlock it. And this makes it significantly harder for them to access your phone.
Android has an equivilent mode called "Lockdown mode", where you activate it by holding the power button and pressing "Lockdown".
For both devices, though, I would still recommend either shutting down or rebooting (and not unlocking) the device.
This is also an important note for airports. I always fully power off my phone before going through security and/or border control (when flying out of YVR they're one and the same). The last time you'll be asked for your bordering pass is when queueing for security, so you can turn it off (assuming you've got a digital boarding pass) after that point and only power it back on when you arrive at your gate.
For the truly paranoid use a paper boarding pass - no airlines or airports that I've ever been to require digital passes, there are people without phones or phone plans that still must be allowed to board planes. I'm curious if Singapore or the UAE might only allow digital passes because they've leaned hard into digitization - but nearly all the world still has some user path for paper boarding passes.
Yeah, but then don't kill it with a fucking 4 digit PIN or pattern. Use a good password. Yes, it takes longer to type it in, but it would take far longer to brute-force.
20 characters or more
When I was about 15 I created a list of eight character, randomly generated passwords. I memorized about 10 of them and to this day different combinations have been used for things like disk encryption, Apple ID, etc. I use a password manager for just about everything but there are a few things where knowing your password is a must, so brute-force memorization can be the way to go.
For what it’s worth, only one of the passwords was in a data leak before I started combining them. It happened to be a weaker password anyway (no mixed case) so I use it sparingly for low-priority offline stuff.
Fortunately you're an adult now and know about password managers. Only memorize one password. Generate the rest.
If you can’t turn off your iPhone, squeeze the volume up button and power button at the same time. This puts the phone in before first unlock mode and requires passcode. It’s faster than turning the phone off.
That said, turning it off also works.
The reason you want to do these things is it clears encryption keys from memory and makes it harder to get at your data.
Careful now. Apparently telling people their rights is subject to scrutiny now by the DOJ 🤣
We're good for the moment, this isn't Facebook.
That's been the case for decades, though it might be worse now.
Pro tip. Don't bring your phone
Then how do you film police brutality?
Go-pro
So you just want the police to be able to see everything you've filmed and delete it?
I guess it's better than them knowing my name, where I live, and to track me home?
Did you read the article? That won't happen if you setup your device properly
Unless you're not wearing a face mask or do something else stupid
Have you read anything other than this article? Law enforcement can track your phone, even when airplane mode is on, even if you take the battety out. They can know that a device was in a specific area at a specific time and will not need a warrant with the cooperation of corporations. No stingray is needed.
Secure it by leaving it at home. Along with your wallet and anything “smart.” Wear a mask, they’re watching.
How do you film police brutally then?
With a GoPro or one of the literal millions of video recording devices? One of your many many trash phones in that box in your closet?
So you just want the police to be able to see everything you've filmed and delete it?
One of your many many trash phones in that box in your closet?
This. But secure it first by following a guide like this article we're commenting-on
You’re fighting me? Why? Weird. I guess you know nothing about phone tracking. See: January 6th, their phones identified them all. Their carriers gave that info up willingly. You bring a SIM card and you’re on a list. Don’t believe me? You do you, I don’t care.
If you didn’t just accuse me of being on the side of the police, I’d tell you how to secure your videos off-device while also having no active cell connection.
Dont bring a SIM card. Leave phone in airplane mode.
Leaving your phone at home is too obvious now for metadata-checking cops. Read this for a more comprehensive take on security culture in the wake of Metadata.
Not if I do that regularly anyway.
I feel like this is making people unnecessarily afraid. Most protests do not require you to do anything special with your phone. If you expect more confrontational or destructive actions to be happening then this is a good idea but most protests I’ve been to are not like this.
If protests keep happening, things are getting worse, not better. Better to be prepared than not.
I’m just worried people won’t show up if it feels scary. And I personally think the risk of legal protest is extremely low at this point in time.
Sure, that could change at some point but there’s no sign of that currently.
Found the fed.
Guess you didn't hear the drones buzzing overhead with the Stingrays
I did not. I’ve been to several protests and did not take any “security precautions”, nor did most people there. It was completely safe with no reason to think there would be repression.
The point of mass resistance is that the state does not have the power to arrest us all. If they did then we would need to use different tactics. But resisting brazenly is a demonstration of power and makes such an outcome less likely in the future.
this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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