Protest Smarter and Safer: Get On Signal
This week, the Trump regime has been escalating a crackdown on protest in Los Angeles, with Trump federalizing the California National Guard and ordering both them and the United States Marines to the half-mile stretch of Alondra Boulevard where Angelenos have been protesting recent attempted kidnappings by masked, armed thugs reportedly affiliated with ICE.
Military force is one of an authoritarian regime’s tools to suppress dissent. Another is identifying and targeting the protesters. That targeting can include accusing them of federal crimes or flagging them to be disappeared.
Right now, it is still legal to peacefully protest in the United States—and it is vitally important that we continue to exercise that right, including this weekend, so we don’t lose it. We must practice corporeal politics.
But we must do so with the awareness that the regime may grow even less tolerant of dissent. You cannot continue to get out in the street if you’re inside of a federal (or foreign) prison, and the best way to prevent that outcome is to secure your communications now.
And so, we must learn to keep our resistive activities out of the view of the regime.
One of the best tools for communicating privately in the modern era is Signal, a free text-messaging app that is the current state of the art for secure, private communications. You should start using Signal now, and get your friends whom you resist with to use it as well.
Unlike other encrypted messengers like Telegram, Signal is fully open-source and end-to-end encrypted. These are why it’s remained secure even as other apps have been compromised or called into serious question.
Setting up Signal
The official website has detailed setup instructions, but here’s what you’ll need to do:
Install the Signal app on your iPhone or Android phone. Go to signal.org to find the link to the official, legitimate app. There are clones out there; assume they are scams. You want the real deal.
Create your account. You will need to link that account to your phone number.
Set up your profile. You should pick out a username to go by instead of your phone number. You may want to pick something somewhat generic rather than your actual name.
Start connecting with your friends. In particular, anyone you regularly protest with—meet up with them in person and tell them your Signal username face-to-face. The Signal app also offers a QR code they can scan to quickly add you to their Signal contacts.
What do I use it for?
We can suggest two things:
First: As you connect with your like-minded friends who are willing to go to protests with you, ask them to join a Signal group chat with you specifically for telling each other about protests. They can invite a +1 (e.g., their spouse), but you shouldn’t let the group get too big. Instead, if somebody wants to invite a bunch of people, ask them to start another group of their own and pass stuff along from your group to theirs.
Second: Everything else! Signal is safer when it isn’t just the Things You Don’t Want the Government to See app. Use it to plan grocery runs, movie viewings, birthday parties—everything you currently do through other messengers.
OK, I got my friends onto a small Signal group. Now what?
When you find out about a protest that’s been announced by an organization you trust, and you want to go to that protest, post about it in the group and ask who’s willing to come with you.
Schedule a meeting time and place for your crew, outside of the protest area, from which you’ll all travel on foot to the venue.
Before the event, ask who needs to leave early. Try to leave in groups of at least two—nobody should arrive or leave alone if at all possible.
Everyone should check in as they get home. If someone doesn’t check in, message or call or visit them the next day to verify they’re OK.
Help verify the legitimacy of protests. There’s no shortage of social media posts promising a protest at some time and place with no clear organizer. You can help reinforce a norm of saying who’s organizing the events you promote, and asking “who’s organizing this?” when necessary—and if there’s no clear answer, exercise caution or don’t go at all.
I’m in multiple groups! What do I do?
This is great! You have enough people who trust you that some of them are in a group you run and some have invited you to a group or groups they run.
What you can do in this position is share information between groups. You can be a relay that helps spread trustworthy information about protests from one group to another.