Feminist Global Resistance will be posting a series of articles on techniques and safety tips for activists.
Our next article has been taken, directly from The “ANONYMOUS: OG’s / ORIGINAL GUIDES” (https://rentry.org/anonorigguides), “
To all activists, “dancing the streets” or participating in any form of action, activism requires a knowledge of what one may encounter during any action. Be prepared for any event and stay vigilant.
Remember, we are in this together so together we help each other.
Activism can be fun but it is serious business – take care of yourself and each other.
As always: Be prepared for confrontation and keep it safe out there!
Love and Solidarity!
OVERCOMING CENSORSHIP: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
“for knowledge itself is power”. – *Francis Bacon, 1561-1626*
Knowledge sets us free, it gives us the ability to speak truth to power, teach us morality and empathy, give us self-fulfillment and to see joy in living. Since 2016, the UN has sought to enshrine internet access as a human right through Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, citing the right to freedom of expression and freedom of information.
“Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.” – *Aaron Swartz, 1986-2013*
Authoritarian regimes and even democratically elected governments increasingly seek to control and censor that freedom of expression and freedom of information. Citizens and journalists are censored from reporting human rights abuses, voter suppression and corruption.
Citizens are denied access to information outside their national borders, encouraging ignorance and bigotry for anything ‘foreign’.
Traditionally we think of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran as the most censored states. However we have seen Nigeria, Myanmar, Turkey and Sudan restricting internet access, and most recently France seeking to use censorship as a policing tool.
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
Is the simplest and most used solution.
Regimes will ask Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) to block access within the national borders. A VPN allows your Internet connection and traffic to burrow through an encrypted tunnel and access the public Internet from a safer, less restrictive access point in another location.
As always do your research and only use trustworthy paid VPN’s, not free ones.
However we understand that not everyone has the means to pay for a VPN service, Proton VPN offers a good ‘Free’ service, with those living under repressive regimes in mind.
Suggested Apps: Proton VPN
Suggested Reading: How to bypass internet censorship
TOR
This allows you to browse anonymously by routing your web browsing through the Tor encrypted network and emerging at an ‘Exit Node’.
The websites only see the ‘Exit Node’ not your IP address and your service provider only sees you accessing the Tor network.
Please note; browsing through Tor will be slower than your usual browser.
Suggested Reading: Tor Project | How To Geek: Tor
HIDING APPS
VPN’s are illegal in Belarus, North Korea, Iraq and Turkmenistan. Several other countries their use is not approved or restricted. There are reports of authorities carrying out on the spot inspections of devices and arresting those found to have VPN’s installed. There are ways to hide apps within devices, the procedure is relatively easy and ‘how to’ guides can be found on the internet for your device. A more involved method is to replace the icon and name of the app, again guides for your device are available on the internet.
Also worth mentioning:
- PROXY SERVER
This is a gateway between your device and the internet with it’s own IP address. Generally Proxy connections use an HTTP protocol which is unencrypted and less secure than a VPN. It is not as reliable as a VPN and in the case of China, they’re efficient at sniffing out Proxy servers and blocking them.
- SSH SOCKS5 (Shadowsock)
Requires technical know-how to set up and will reduce internet speed. Works in a similar way to a Proxy server, however it appears as an HTTPS protocol, although lighter encryption than a VPN.