Options for Phones at Protests

Simply showing up to a protest leaves you susceptible to all sorts of surveillance, including cameras, drones, facial recognition, and more. There's not always a lot you can do about pernicious street-level surveillance, but you do have a lot of choices when it comes to your phone.

Because there's no one-size-fits-all advice, let's walk through the different options so you can figure out what makes sense for your situation.

Option 1: Leave Your Phone Behind.

Leaving your phone at home is a great option to keep it safe. It will not be confiscated as evidence, even in the case of arrest, and it cannot be used to track you if it is not on you. That said, you could still be tracked with automated license plate readers, surveillance cameras, or even other people's cameras and phones if they are photographing or filming.

Not having your phone has drawbacks. It can make it harder to navigate to the protest site, or to document anything from counter-protesters to police violence to those amazing protest signs--you'll need to bring your own camera for that one. And it can make it more difficult to get in touch with friends and family, so you'll need to stick together, have meetup points arranged in advance, and let people know where you'll be, as well as what to do and who to contact if you don't return by a certain time.

Option 2: Bring your phone but keep it turned off or in airplane mode.

The benefits of having your phone on you are that you can power it on whenever you want. If you leave it turned on and on airplane mode, you can still use it to use apps that don't require network or phone connections. That said, even if your phone is on airplane mode, it may still be communicating with other devices using Bluetooth, so you'll need to turn that off as well. Also make sure your Wi-Fi and GPS are turned off. (If you've used Airplane Mode with Wi-Fi on a flight, for example, Wi-Fi may remain turned on the next time you switch to Airplane Mode.)

The drawbacks here are similar to those of using a Faraday bag except that you don't have to buy or carry anything extra, or explain why you have it. That said, your phone will still reveal your location and how long you spent there even if it's in airplane mode and not connected to the internet. Some phones switch Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other settings back on periodically. And even if your phone is turned off, it will still send out Bluetooth signals to broadcast its location.

Option 3: Bring your phone, keeping it turned on and Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth running.

The benefits of bringing your everyday phone are that you can easily use it for navigation, taking photos or video, or calling your friends. The drawbacks are that your phone reveals a lot of information about you. Additionally, your phone can be confiscated as evidence in case of arrest.

Option 4: Bring a secondary phone.

Some people choose to carry separate phones for protest activities. Note that secondary phones are distinct from burner phones, which we'll discuss a little later. Secondary phones are not meant to be truly anonymous, but will have a different phone number and very limited data on them. Because the phone is turned on, it's still collecting location data, but if there is little information on your phone, there's not much for law enforcement to find if it is confiscated as evidence after an arrest. If your secondary phone is lost or damaged, you'll still have your regular phone safe and sound at home.

There are many drawbacks here. First, you have to buy an extra phone and a prepaid phone plan. Some people try to keep the phones completely nondescript, but since you're using it to call friends, you'll likely have their numbers in your phone. And if you are documenting the protest, suddenly you have images in your phone. People also often carry their secondary phone alongside their regular phone, making it very easy to associate the two. And just because you don't have anything questionable on your phone doesn't mean that you don't have anything anywhere--social media accounts are easy to link to individuals. Lastly, if you are using an old phone or if you're not regularly updating it, you are more vulnerable to security threats.

Trickier Options

There are a couple of options I haven't yet discussed because they don't make a lot of sense for most people right now, but I'll quickly run through them.

Faraday Bags

A Faraday bag is a portable enclosure made out of fabric that blocks electromagnetic signals. If it's working correctly, it'll stop built-in radio emissions (GSM, CDMA, 4g, 5g, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, etc.) from reaching your phone and stop your phone from connecting with the outside world. Bringing your phone in a Faraday bag allows you to make the instantaneous decision to use it, regardless of the risk of surveillance.

The drawbacks of this approach are similar to the ones you'll face if you don't bring your phone: you cannot use it for navigation, documentation, and communication so long as it is in a Faraday bag. You'll also have to buy the bag and test it, by--for example--having someone call your phone while it is in the bag to see if it rings. Your phone's microphone, accelerometer and gyroscope still work, so the phone is collecting some data. Also, your phone could still get confiscated as evidence if you are arrested, and possibly subject to various forms of forensic extraction by law enforcement. And having a Faraday bag makes it obvious that you are part of a protest and not just a bystander. In general, keeping your phone turned off is more convenient with fewer things to carry.

Burner Phones

Unlike a secondary phone, a burner phone is meant to be truly anonymous. This requires going to a store via public transit without a phone while wearing some kind of disguise, paying in cash, activating the phone in a coffee shop while spoofing your MAC address, using it for a very short time and then removing the battery, and so forth. It is a bit of a hassle and extremely difficult to keep a phone anonymous, and is unnecessary for most people.

Security Tips

If you do bring your phone to a protest, there are steps you can take to protect yourself.

Disable biometrics such as TouchID, Face Unlock, and FaceID, and set a strong password—not a numeric code–to unlock your phone. This will lower the risk of it being unlocked without your consent, which can otherwise be done by simply holding the phone up to your face or guessing your password.

Use Signal. Some police departments use cell site simulators to intercept calls, identify phones, see who is messaging who, and even access the content of those message.

Disable notification previews on your phone. They show you messages even if your phone is locked; better to keep that off if there's a chance someone might get physical access to your device.

Disable AirDrop. This will protect your name, email address, and phone number from those around you.

Back up your data. If your phone is confiscated, you definitely want to make sure your information is stored somewhere safe.

Be careful with photos and videos of other protesters. If they're easy to identify, they could be tracked down, harassed, or even arrested.

Scrub metadata from your photos. Metadata can show when a photo was taken, where, on what type of phone, and even who took it. The easiest way to remove this data this is to take a screenshot of the original photo, and post or share that instead.

Good luck, and stay safe out there!