If you live in America you probably think that you have the right to assemble and peacefully protest without fear of being tracked or retribution from your own government. Well, you do. It’s actually a Constitutional amendment that the founders thought so important that they made it the first one.
Unfortunately as we have learned in the past with Occupy Wall Street, the 99% movement, Black Lives Matter, The March for our Lives, Climate Change, protests against Authoritarian government and many others, we now know that American Citizens who participate in such events can be tracked, targeted and retaliated against by local law enforcement and their own government.
While legally you do have Constitutional Rights that protect you against this, it’s incredibly difficult to argue that your rights have been violated against a police force and government agents who wear masks to obscure their identity, travel in unmarked vehicles, and don’t wear identifying badges or markings. Violated by whom?
On top of the attempts to obscure themselves and tactics that mimic private military contractors rather than publicly funded agencies charged with protecting and serving, law enforcement and government agents now have a myriad of sophisticated surveillance tools that can track your movements, communications, and associations before, during, and after an event.
Understanding how you can be tracked, and the practical steps you can take to mitigate the risks are important to protecting your privacy and Constitutional rights.
1. Protestors can be tracked by their phone
Plainly put, your phone is a snitch. It’s a 24/7 location beacon exploited by data collectors, social media companies like Meta, law enforcement, and government agencies to determine your historical whereabouts through it’s relationship to cell towers, GPS data, WiFi triangulation, and Bluetooth scans.
Law enforcement and government agencies frequently request cell tower dumps or use geofence warrants to obtain data on all devices in a specific area during a certain period of time. Most times your mobile phone service provider will roll right over without any resistance and just give it to them.
When they can’t strong arm companies out of the data, they can just buy it from a large marketplace of unregulated data collectors and middle men who obtain it in all kinds of ways. No pesky warrants needed.
They can also use devices known as Stingrays or IMSI catchers that impersonate cell towers and trick your phone into connecting with them to identify you and intercept your communications. Even a powered off phone may still be tracked in some cases.
So what can you do about it?
- Leave your phone at home.
The best way to ensure your phone won’t be used as evidence against you is to leave it at home. - Consider using a burner phone.
If you need to stay in touch with others during the protest, consider using a cheap pre-paid, disposable phone that you purchase with cash and is not linked to your identity as a good way to connected.
Some tips on using burner phones –
• DO NOT just use one of your old phones that’s already been associated with you.
• DO NOT pay for service with your credit or debit card. Buy sim cards with cash, or gift cards at a physical store. Some international e-sim services accept crypto, but let’s just keep it simple.
• DO NOT carry the burner at the same time as your regular phone.
• DO NOT sign into ANY of your accounts on the burner phone.
• DO NOT set up or turn on the burner phone at home, work, or any location that can be associated with you.
• DO NOT reuse burner phones. Once it’s been used for their specific purpose, dispose of it.
• DO NOT give away or resell a burner phone to someone you know, or can be traced back to you.
• If your car has GPS tracking ( OnStar, Sirius radio, and so on), DO NOT turn the phone on while near or travelling in your car. - Airplane mode.
I’m including it but I do not recommend relying on this method to protect your privacy. Airplane Mode disables incoming cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, however, some apps will still store GPS location data even in Airplane Mode and then transmit the complete record once connectivity is restored. Turning the phone completely off is better, but I still recommend not even taking your main phone with you. - Disable location services.
If you find yourself going to a protest with you phone on you, go into your phone’s settings and turn off all location services for every app and the system itself. For Android users, also check your Google account’s Location History setting. - Put your devices in Faraday Bag.
A faraday bag is made with special materials that block radio waves. Be sure to buy from a reputable or well reviewed seller. Pay close attention to how the bag seals or fastens. There should be no gaps. If you’re going to use a faraday bag as a solution be sure to put ALL of your devices in it including your smart watch. - Avoid 2G and 3G networks.
Turn off roaming so that you phone doesn’t automatically connect to a fake or unsecure network, or you can enable lock down mode on iPhone 17+. - Use walkie talkies, Ham, CB or satellite radios.
It may sound corny but long range walkie talkies and citizens band radios are an excellent way to stay in touch with others in an immediate area.
There are also all-in-one radios that can also be used as both. They are not encrypted conversions and can be eaves dropped on, but in the case of hand held CB radios there are multiple channels to choose from and it’s significantly harder (if not impossible) to triangulate your position.
There are also global walkie talkies that use sim cards and use cell towers that are device to device encrypted, but I have to assume that triangulation is possible.
Ham radio does require an FCC license to broadcast over most channels, A ham radio license is cheap and easy to get with just a simple test requirement that you can easily study for over a weekend.
Additional public over the air communication options include FRS (Family Radio Service- 462 MHz and 467 MHz) and MURS.RadioReference.com is a great resource for finding frequencies and other information in this area.
2. Protestors can be tracked with facial recognition
Thanks to years of us uploading our photos to the internet along with repeated institutional data breaches, facial recognition technology has benefited from a wealth of free (or stolen) data with which to train and has gotten very good.
Tools like ClearView AI and others are widely used by law enforcement and can match photos taken at a protest with images found across the web (such as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn) to identify people, sometimes even those whose faces are partially obscured by masks.
So what can you do about it?
- Cover your face anyway.
Police and government agents are covering their faces why shouldn’t you? Wear a face mask and sunglasses to make identification more difficult. For greater protection consider a full-face mask or even a costume that obscures your features. Other suggestions include confusing make up and clothing designed to “trick” cameras, but these can also make you stand out more than intended.Important : Infrared cameras can see through dark sunglasses and see your eyes. To thwart infrared cameras you need infrared blocking glasses like those for welding.
This video by the Business Reform YouTube channel talks about this in more detail.
- Dress Anonymously.
Adopt a grey man persona. Wear dark, monochrome, and unidentifiable clothing and shoes to help you blend into the crowd. No logos, cute t-shirts, or bright colors. If you have visible tattoos or bright hair colors cover them up. Don’t wear ANY jewelry, If you need to tell the time get a cheap analog watch…you only need it to last the day.
3. Protestors can be tracked via device confiscation
Rights be damned, sometimes the cops will just take your sh*t and will immediately try to get into it. Their actions may not hold up in court later, but the violation and subsequent harm happens in real time.
If your phone is locked with biometrics (face ID, finger print) they may physically force you to unlock it. If your phone is locked with a pin or password you have more legal protection against being compelled to give it up.
They’re not just looking for evidence to use against you, they’re looking for intelligence about plans, your contacts, and information about other protestors or organizers. You have a responsibility to protect this information so that you are not the weak link that mistakenly gets others targeted.
The best way to keep this info private is to not have it on device in the first place.
ℹ️ IMPORTANT: U.S. Border patrol claims jurisdiction over all electronic devices within 100 miles of any border. Feasibly if you are detained and taken to an area with a border patrol agent, you’re probably screwed and they can take your device.
So what can you do about it?
- Not to repeat myself, but if you don’t have it on you in the first place they can’t take it from you. If you’re using a burner there’s less to be found than if it was your main phone with your entire life on it. (Remember above when I said NOT to set up or use your burner anywhere near your home?).
- Use a strong Passcode Over Biometrics: Protect your device with a long, strong alphanumeric passcode (8-12 random characters) and disable all biometric unlocking features (Fingerprint, Face ID) before heading to a protest.
- Enable device encryption
Ensure your entire device is encrypted (full-disk or file-based). This means data cannot be read if the device is accessed without the encryption key. Newer devices often have this enabled by default when a passcode is set. - Sign out of your accounts
Log out of all non-essential accounts on your phone (email, social media, messaging apps) before the protest. This limits the information that can be gained if your unlocked device is seized. Consider creating a dummy account with limited info and only essential contacts so that you can still use functions like GPS navigation.The phone you carry to a protest should have as little information on it as possible. Remove unnecessary files, ALL of your social media apps and known location trackers like weather apps. You can always reinstall them later.
- Back up your data
Back up your phone data to an external hard drive or cloud storage before attending a protest. This ensures that if your device is confiscated, lost or stolen you don’t also lose all of your data. - Refuse consent to search
I understand there’s a difference between what is legal and what happens in the heat of the moment. You should still know and be able to express your Constitutional rights. Clearly and verbally state, “I do not consent to this search” if police ask (or don’t) to search your phone or other belongings
4. Protestors can be tracked with Photos and Videos
Sometimes we tell on ourselves. Every digital photo and video you take contains hidden “metadata,” also known as EXIF data. This can include precise GPS coordinates, the date and time, the make and model of your device, and even the software used to edit the image. This seemingly innocuous information can be invaluable to authorities seeking to track your movements and confirm your presence at specific locations.
So what can you do about it?
- Scrub All Metadata: Before sharing any photos or videos online, always scrub their metadata.
You can do this by:
Taking a screenshot of the image and posting that instead of the original file.
Sending the image to yourself through an app like Signal, which automatically strips metadata when sending photos, then downloading that version to post.
Using dedicated apps designed to remove photo metadata, such as Photo Metadata Remover (Android) or Metasniffer/Xeefer (iOS). - Disable Location Data for Camera:
Prevent your camera app from recording location metadata in the first place by turning off location permissions specifically for your camera in your phone’s settings. - Blur Identifying Features: In addition to scrubbing metadata, blur or block out the faces of other protestors and any unique identifying features (like distinctive tattoos or clothing) before posting images or videos.
5. Protestors can be tracked through social media surveillance and data brokers
Protecting your privacy is an operational security change that starts long before you start going to protests. Law enforcement agencies actively monitor social media using specialized tools like Dataminr to analyze vast amounts of public data, identify activists, track movements, and map connections between individuals.
Furthermore, data brokers like Palantir and ALL of the credit reporting agencies continuously collect and sell extensive personal information including web browsing history, public records, and purchase history to build detailed profiles on individuals, which can then be acquired (or purchased) by police. Simply posting about your intention to attend a protest, or confirming your attendance online adds information into these systems.
So what can you do about it?
- Limit Social Media Engagement: Consider reducing your time spent on social media platforms to minimize your digital footprint. Practice “digital minimalism” to take control of your technology usage. Also delete old profiles that you are no longer using.
- Be Mindful of Content: Be extremely cautious about what you post, share, and follow on social media, especially anything related to politics or protests. Assume that anything you post publicly WILL be viewed by law enforcement.
- Use Privacy-Respecting Messaging Alternatives:
For messaging prioritize end-to-end encrypted apps like Signal, and utilize its disappearing messages feature. - For email communication consider encrypted email services that are NOT hosted in the U.S. like Proton Mail, and Tutanota.
Pro Tip: All parties need to be using the service to guarantee that your emails remain encrypted. - For browsing, consider using TOR, or a privacy-respecting browser like Brave or Firefox with an ad/tracker blocker like uBlock Origin.
- Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt your internet traffic, hide your IP address, and make it harder to track your online activities. At the moment the only VPNs that I trust are Proton VPN, Mullvad VPN, and Nym.
- Explore privacy-focused social media alternatives like Mastodon which are decentralized, and typically do not use algorithmic timelines.
- Practice Data Minimization: Adopt a general policy of posting less online, especially anything you’d be concerned about falling into unintended hands or that can be misconstrued out of context to be used against you in the future.
- Remove Public Data: Proactively work to remove your personal data (such as home address and contact information) from people search websites and data broker databases. This is much harder than it sounds. Data brokers make it incredibly difficult for you to request your information be deleted, or just ignore you altogether. Services like Delete Me can be a huge help with this.
- Consider using email aliasing for sign ups like SimpleLogin , DuckDuckGo, Proton or Addy.io.
- If available in your area, ask your local election office to not publish your voter registration information online.
- Avoid Livestreaming Sensitive Content: Think very carefully before livestreaming from a protest. While documenting events is important, it’s difficult to ensure everyone appearing in your stream is comfortable being broadcast, and such footage can be used as evidence against others. If you have video that could prove someone’s innocence or police misconduct, it’s generally safer to show it to an attorney first rather than posting it publicly.
Additional things to consider
- Cameras are everywhere: Street cams, ATM cameras, business cameras, parking lot cameras, ring doorbells, dashcams…you get the picture. Assume that the owners of this footage will give up or sell their footage at the drop of a hat.
- Drones are quiet. Drones are small, can fly at very high altitudes, and at a noisy event you’ll never hear them. Look up every now and then and watch for drones scanning the crowd or following you.
There’s nothing you can really do about it, and no I’m not going to tell you how to interfere with their signal or disable them because that would be a crime, and honestly there’s really no point.
You have an expectation of privacy on your person, your personal business, from unreasonable search and seizure, and to be able to move freely and exercise your Constitutional Rights without fear of harassment or persecution from your government. However you do not have an expectation of privacy from being seen when you are in public places.
IOW, public cameras are not illegal. What can become illegal is how the footage is used to target you without cause, or violate your rights.
Just be aware that drones exist and are also watching. - Facebook (Meta) and other social media platforms CANNOT BE TRUSTED. They WILL turn over information about you with no resistance. Consider using decentralized networks like Mastodon, and communicating over encrypted apps like I mentioned above.
FYI: WhatsApp is encrypted, but it is a Meta company. Do not trust them. - Use cash for everything.
- Never connect to unknown WiFi signals.
- Be mindful of being in the photos and videos of others. Should law enforcement consider their footage evidence, they may want to know who you are too.
- Avoid violence and criminal activity. It’s common to want to gawk at or record bad actors. However, if you’re recording on your phone you’re also signaling your location and that video can now be considered evidence.
At every protest assume there are bad actors and instigators intent on exploiting the situation. When you see others who aren’t protesting peacefully get away from them. Leave them alone to stand out as the exception.
- Protect your belongings: Crowds are prime targets for pick pockets and other criminals. Only take what you need, and keep what you need secure.
- If you buy new gear, practice first. Don’t wait till the day of the event to take your new communication device out of the box. Use it, get to know it and practice so that on the day of the event you’re not fumbling around trying to figure it out.
Learn to cover your tracks
Unfortunately we live in a time where companies, advertisers, data brokers, law enforcement and governments are addicted to data and the power that it gives them over us. They now feel entitled to our data and we’re just in the way.
Until we get some kind of privacy protections in the United States we are on our own to protect ourselves.
For more info about your rights during a protest check out (and support):
By taking proactive steps you can significantly enhance your digital security and privacy while exercising your constitutional rights to free speech, and your right to peacefully assemble.
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About the author
Multi-disciplinary IT support strategist with 15+ years experience empowering entrepreneurs, corporate colleagues and remote teams with the knowledge, skills and technologies to get stuff done. | Sec+ – CySA+ (CSAP) – ITIL – ACSP
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