Pearl River The No Kings March was projected across 2000 locations in the United States and from all reports and pictures seems to have been successful in towns and cities, large and small. People came together peacefully to send a message to the president that he has exceeded the powers of his office and needs to be accountable. Meanwhile, back in Washington, he was celebrating his 79th birthday with a military parade on the 250th anniversary of the US Army in a display that many found unnecessary and alarming, regardless of their support for the armed forces, where many of us have relatives who have or are serving.
We live in strange times. One mark of these times that caught my eye, triggered by these modern protests, was an alert from Wired magazine on the issues of digital security and facial recognition.
At one level, there’s nothing new about police and security obsession with facial recognition. It has been common throughout my more than 50-year organizing career to observer police forces, city to city, country to country, taking pictures of protests and demonstrations. Many would point them out. Some were in the crowd, while others would be perched on buildings. It all seemed standard operating procedure in the US, just part of your file, so to speak. In other countries, the dangers could be more real. It’s a sad note that the new concerns and techniques involving facial recognition are as disturbing here now, as they have almost always been over there.
The advice from Wired on this issue is pretty much, if you’re really worried stay home. A face mask and sunglasses might not be enough to beat modern recognition systems. Wearing a Guy Fawkes or Trump mask may not help, but is kind of weird and makes you stand out. Even if you are in disguise, motor vehicle recognition systems may be able to track your ride to the march, mask be damned. They also noted that colorful t-shirts and march paraphernalia would also likely make you stand out. My takeaway on this score that there isn’t much hope of success, so make sure your face is in a big crowd, if this is your issue.
On the digital side, they were more expansive. Anyone who has ever watched a crime show on television knows by now that the police can track your cellphone everywhere. Wired has these suggestions:
…protesters who want anonymity leave their primary phone at home altogether. If you do need a phone for coordination or as a way to call friends or a lawyer in case of an emergency, keep it off as much as possible to reduce the chances that it connects to a rogue cell tower or Wi-Fi hot spot being used by law enforcement for surveillance. Sort out logistics with friends in advance so you only need to turn your phone on if something goes awry. Or to be even more certain that your phone won’t be tracked, keep it in a Faraday bag that blocks all of its radio communications.
They also suggest if this is your concern that you carry a burner, but they also warned that you are not a character in The Wire, and they can identify and track this stuff, too. If you’ve got deep pockets, they suggest you might be better with a secondary phone that doesn’t have many programs on it that links to you. If you have to call, do so on WhatsApp or Signal and hope the encryption can do the trick and the magic of Moxie Marlin spike can save you.
We’re talking social media now. No matter how “I spy” you think you are, if you get home and post up pics you took of your friends and comrades in full formation, then the gigs up. Protests or not, the White House and State Department have plainly announced that they are now trolling X-Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook on existing and potential employees, immigrants, and others, so take it for granted, they are on to you.
In short, these notes confirmed my standard operating procedure. If state power wants you, they’ve got you; so don’t stand up, if you’re not willing to be counted.