How I keep safe protesting: security culture and me

Everything I’ve learnt about organising safely online

Protest safety

There are two key aspects to protest safety: physical safety and online safety. Physical safety probably incorporates the kind of things that come more naturally to experienced activists: covering your face, not talking to the police, ensuring you know your legal rights should you be arrested and so on. It can also incorporate the very basics: bringing water, sun cream, or an umbrella; making sure you come to a demonstration with a friend; knowing where you can go to the toilet if you need to.

As someone who has been protesting for a while and has probably attended just about every kind of protest action possible, the physical side of protest safety comes fairly easily to me, as it will for most experienced activists.

Of course, this idea of protest safety varies greatly depending on the type of action you are attending, and your political views more generally. Because of my own political views, I show my face at most protests. However, if I’m protesting the far-right, I don’t necessarily want them to see what I look like, to avoid ending up on KeyWiki (a far-right website with a database on leftwing activists).

There are plenty of other activists from a broad array of traditions that will likely read this article and disagree with me on various things. Plenty of activists want to remain totally anonymous at every action they partake in, and plenty of others will never cover their faces at anything.

Generally speaking, protest safety is down to the individual. It’s up to you to keep yourself and others around you safe: before you go to any protest, really consider what the risks are, what could happen, and how you can look after yourself.

Safety is something that is hard to teach, and can only really be learned with time. If you’re really worried about going to an action, stick with someone more experienced, make sure you know your rights, and if things get sketchy, get out.

What about online safety?

Online safety is much harder to get right, in my experience. Just like the methods we use to stay safe whilst out on demonstrations, there are a variety of different perspectives on how we can best keep safe while organising online.

The term widely attributed to online protest safety is ‘security culture’, and having a decent understanding of it is crucial for any activist. However, the lengths people go to in order to keep their online organising airtight vary an awful lot.

If you live in the UK, protesting is getting more and more dangerous. Activism presents a very real threat to the establishment, and the Tories are cracking down more and more on anyone who dares to challenge the status quo.

For this reason, keeping security culture in mind when organising is very important. Depending on the type of activism you are doing, there are a variety of steps you can take.

The group chat conundrum — WhatsApp VS Signal?

Group chats are used for absolutely everything, not just political organising. But there are lots of important things to remember when using a group chat to organise.

Firstly, a group chat is only as secure as the least secure person in it. Only put things on a group chat if you’re happy for it to get leaked, especially if you don’t know everyone on the chat in real life.

When it comes to choosing which messenger app to use, it’s best to work off the assumption that WhatsApp isn’t secure. The messaging app loved by Aunts and Uncles everywhere is not the best choice if you’re organising any serious direct action. While it used to be more secure, WhatsApp is now owned by Meta, which probably speaks for itself. WhatsApp is probably just fine for social chats, or for organising branch meetings and so on, but keep serious direct action well away from Mark Zuckerberg.

For an app that is genuinely end-to-end encrypted, spring for Signal. It works more or less in the same way as WhatsApp, but with more safety measures. With Signal, you can confirm the identity of people in your chat, lock the app with a PIN, and set disappearing messages (though now WhatsApp also has this last feature).

The app also uses message notification shielding, meaning messages are hidden from your lock screen, thus keeping them encrypted. This was previously a weak spot. As safe as Signal is, messages displaying on your lock or home screen unencrypts them, breaching the encryption.

Signal isn’t owned by Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, or any other profit-leeching billionaire. The aim of the app, according to its founders, is to protect free speech. It is also open source, meaning anyone (who understands coding) can check the code and see for themselves whether the app is safe.

Plenty of activists will use a fake name (or an alias) when using Signal, and when organising more generally. This is a very good idea if you’re involved in slightly ‘spicier’ organising. For an extra level of safety use a different name on Signal and WhatsApp than your government name.

There are of course a variety of other messaging services used for organising. Telegram, for instance, includes many of the same features as WhatsApp and Signal, plus a few more. It still isn’t as safe as Signal but is relatively secure if you stick to the app’s recommended security measures.

Safety and social media

Social media is perhaps one of the most important tools in an organiser’s arsenal. Plenty of the biggest demonstrations, rallies, and meetings are organised using Facebook, although this obviously throws up problems for protests that may include more risk.

Social media platforms are incredibly useful, but aren’t designed for fighting the powers that be. They are owned by some of the richest people in the world. On a fundamental level, they serve the interests of the elite and exist largely to make more money for people who are already richer than any person has the need to be. For this reason, it is risky relying on social media platforms for organising or for safety (although this could all change with the advent of CAUSE).

The safest way to use social media is to remain anonymous. Safer still would be to renounce smartphones and go off-grid. Sadly, this isn’t realistic, and it is more or less impossible to survive today without at least an email address.

That being said, activists will sometimes remain totally anonymous on social media, or use an alias for added safety. Even if you’re not anonymous, it’s good to be mindful of what you’re posting on social media, particularly if you’re at a protest.

Let it burn?

Many activists don’t take their own personal phones to political actions, instead opting for a burner phone with key numbers saved on it. There are even different levels people will go to just to procure a burner phone. For the maximum amount of safety, paying cash with your face covered is the best way to go. But again, this probably isn’t at all necessary for an awful lot of day-to-day organising, where you can probably stick to your normal phone.

General online security

Nowadays, the kind of activism I do could probably be described as ‘low risk’. Though this doesn’t sound as sexy as direct action and more high-risk things, it is just as important. Safety is also important, and it would be foolish to assume that you’re completely safe from getting arrested just because you don’t often break the law.

I use Proton Mail for emails, have a VPN, and try to use common sense when talking to people about organising. I take these small steps to keep myself slightly more secure online, although it’s important to take all of this with a pinch of salt. I operate with the assumption that nothing is totally secure, and always stay cautious.