New documents revealed about the Spokane 9 case. 13 phones were hacked with cellebrite under the guise of "conspiracy charges." 12 of the 13 people were never indicted. But the govt got all their data anyway.

More intimidation. She literally just quoted a public news article. archive.is/IEcZ8 > Gonyea said she does not consider it doxxing to quote a news story and call for an indictment. “I didn’t dox his personal information, such as address, phone number,” she said.

Read this whole thread. Activists are being sentenced, one of whom just moved some zines. The judge made it clear in sentencing that he was prosecuting their beliefs, not their actions.

“Large companies can and will use surveillance tech to punish critics, exploit workers, and consolidate power, with no regard for the basic rights they trample in the process.” - @evangreer.bsky.social

Looks like the protestors in Minneapolis believe that informants were used to monitor their calls and group chats. This makes sense because the chats span 5 months.

If you haven't looked into the history of paid FBI informants, now is a good time to start learning. Part of our solidarity as a movement is not talking to the cops, not becoming an informant, and not taking a plea deal for lighter sentencing. Films to watch: activistchecklist.org/movies/

Celebration! The beginning of movement repression cases often get a lot of buzz on social media. But the dismissal of charges often doesn't get as much attention. weelauneethefree.org/state-felony...

We often think about activists devices being siezed as a risk because of the retroactive information the cops can get. But there seem to be clues pointing to a seized device being used to actively monitor activist group Signal chats and calls in Minneapolis. Checklist: activistchecklist.org/signal/

ICE Observers in Minneapolis are getting FBI door knocks. Print this and put it up by your door. Pass it to your friends. Why? Law enforcement gets a lot of training in how to trick you into talking. They can lie to you. It's easy to forget in the heat of the moment.

"The Kinetic Cyber Range also helps to train U.S. investigators in digital forensics, which police use to crack the cybersecurity defenses of encrypted modern devices to extract data from devices, often for the purposes of building a criminal investigation."

“There is an old truism that the security apparatus only expands; it never retracts” www.fastcompany.com/91558863/the...

This is great news. Section 702 is the basis for an incredible amount of surveillance that ends up getting used against US citizens. The real question is: If you're the NSA and this law lapses, would you really suddenly pause many of your powerful surveillance tools? Seems highly doubtful to me.

I really hope Flock keeps failing so spectacularly and so publicly like this. It makes it so much easier to make the case to city councils that they should stop buying from this company (and from all their peer companies) www.404media.co/flock-leaked... Paywall bypass: archive.is/9V3oW

WhatsApp is suing Israeli spyware maker NSO Group for continuing to create spyware that targets WhatsApp. Kind of a wild (and hilarious) fail for NSO Group here. Source: www.courtlistener.com/docket/16395...

This regime is using grand juries to repress dissent a lot lately. If you haven't educated yourself about grand juries. Now is the time.

Using WhatsApp for any of your political work? Signal is more secure, but a lot of communities still use WhatsApp. We wrote a guide on how to use it more safely, and what kinds of conversation should happen on more secure channels like Signal. activistchecklist.org/whatsapp/ Pass it on.

Spyware maker NSO Group at it again. Trying to hack WhatsApp after a US Federal Injunction told them to stop doing that.

It's worth tracking their rhetoric around antifa. I don't think they are going to follow through on every claim, but I do think it shows us their intent.

This is seriously concerning. DOJ is using (or rather, abusing) grand juries to get the names, addresses, and even banking info on Reddit and X users who are pushing back against ICE online. Free speech is under attack on my fronts, but this is one of the most blatant I've seen.

If you have Signal backups enabled: Never ever give anyone your recovery code (and keep it safe; like in a password manager). If you get a message claiming to be from "Signal support" asking for a code or recovery key, it's always phishing. Don't share those things with anyone.

Proton Mail & Proton Docs are very popular in activist spaces now. It's important to know the limitations of these tools: - Some things aren't encrypted - You aren't anonymous by default Our newest guide helps you decide whether Proton is a fit for your work and how to use it safely.

A faraday bag can be helpful in some situations: Like when you need to be at a protest without your phone but you want to keep your phone in the car in case of an emergency or to get home. Remember: as soon as you take it out of the bag, your location is revealed to the cell towers

Previous research on this topic required specialized wifi routers. Looks like very normal routers could be used to track the location/posture/movement of people within an area, even if they don't have a device on them.

If anyone ever asks, the fingerprint for our PGP signing key our main contact@ email address is. B7AA5B9EC0F0351D9FB7E387D037BB0E887206EC

Good run down of the investments that ICE is making in spyware. We might see a big change in their usage of spyware, BUT we want to remind folks that spyware is generally VERY expensive for the govt to deploy. So most of us won't be targetted with it. Protections here: activistchecklist.org/spyware

“The FBI has a crucial need for accessible LPRs to provide a diverse and reliable range of collections across the United States. This data should be available across major highways and in an array of locations for maximum usefulness to law enforcement” - via @404media.co

It remains to be seen whether this regime will be successful in fully repressing all political dissent. But if you want an idea of what they *want* to see happen, see their new counter terrorism plan. Great breakdown from @theintercept.com here.

Apparently there was a lot of discussion at the recent "Border Security Expo" about iris scanning. Which ICE claims is "99% accurate" which is much more accurate than using fingerprint.

No surprise here. If you aren't acquainted, Cellebrite makes the devices that cops can plug your phone into to extract data. Best defenses for this are included here: activistchecklist.org/protest/

I don't know how many US activists are using starlink, but this is good to know in case you are.

Some quotes from this article that give us a sense of the scope of the power of the tools Palantir is making for ICE. (See thread) > At another point, Elliston said that Palantir’s technology has increased ICE’s rate of successfully locating a target from around 27 percent to just under 80 percent.

If you use Android, it's probably wise to turn on Android Advanced Protection Mode. It now has new features to help researchers investigate whether your phone has been hacked with spyware or police hacking devices like Cellebrite. You get to consent to have that info turned over.

In typical Flock fashion, they attack the people exposing their terrible security rather than addressing the terrible security. That said, we don't want a more secure Flock. We want safety through community connections and care, not surveillance.

What's most striking about this quote is the word "before" ... They are claiming that they are going to prosecute people BEFORE a crime happens. If they follow through on this, it would open the door for tons of repression of social movements and dissent.

Preview of coming attractions: @deflockatlanta.org is calling for a national week of action to resist Flock surveillance. Dates will be announced soon.

WhatsApp is adding usernames which will let you hide your phone number! We take a harm reduction approach, so rather than saying "never use WhatsApp," we say "Signal is more private, but if you're going to use WhatsApp, here's how to use it more safely." (We hope to write a guide on this soon)

Great news. A couple of weeks ago we learned that the FBI used the iPhone notifications database to harvest Signal messages after they had been deleted. They just fixed that bug! ✅ Upgrade to the latest iOS version now: 26.4.2 (Settings > General > Software Update) (Pass it on)

New on the site: How to Host a Security Party Most of us intend to lock down our digital security one day. Without accountability and a crew, most of us don't actually do it. So we wrote a guide to help you do it. Everything is better with community! 🧵 activistchecklist.org/party

Google says it will notify a user before responding to subpoena (unless the law requires them not to). They broke that promise when ICE started targeting this activist for his pro-Palestine advocacy. Another example of ICE using an administrative (not judicial) subpoena and Google responding.

What languages should we translate Activist Checklist to next?

Big update: We just released a full Spanish translation of Activist Checklist! activistchecklist.org/es/ Spanish translation has been the #1 request we've received since the site launched. Please help us spread the word! (Also, we need help proofreading the translation. See thread.)

You'll notice that all of our main checklists have a step for "disabling advertising ID" -- That's because of the reporting that's come out about #Webloc from @citizenlab.ca and others. Cops and ICE can look up your data because some random apps you have are selling your data to make a buck.

Has anyone tried Proton Meet yet? I haven't trusted Jitsi for activist meetings for a long time. Zoom has end-to-end encryption which I trust fairly well, but I'd much rather have non-US infrastructure. Looks like it supports up to 50 participants, and you don't need an account to start a meeting.

One of the trends we're always tracking is the increase in state repression. This use of grand juries to try to silence dissent is concerning. If you don't know, federal grand juries happen with a lot of secrecy. The govt appears to be using them to try to unmask online dissenters.

Let's use this article as a chance to talk about all the other Signal security settings you might want to update if you're worried about the cops getting your data. See thread 🧵 (Full guide at: activistchecklist.org/signal/) #signal #activism #digitalsecurity

Glad to see this covered by 404 Media so it reaches a wider audience. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Tell folks to "hide name and content" for their Signal notifications so it's not logged. See our full Signal security guide here: activistchecklist.org/signal

FYI - In the Prairieland case, iOS notifications revealed the contents of some Signal messages. This only applied to incoming messages, not outgoing ones. Yet another reason to disable notification previews in Signal messages. Signal security guide: activistchecklist.org/signal

Preview of coming attractions: We're very close to releasing Spanish translations on Activist Checklist! It's been at the top of our priority list for a while. And it took a huge amount of work: We had to get off of the CMS we were on and move all the content into the code. Should be ready soon!

Apple's "hide my email" feature is great if you want to prevent tech companies from linking your identity across accounts. But it won't help you if Apple gets a warrant to turn over you data to the cops. This is true of any email alias service. If you need anonymity, make a separate account.