this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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259
Going to a Protest? Don't Bring Your Phone Without Doing This First (www.pcmag.com)
submitted 13 hours ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world
65 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The right to assemble and protest is enshrined in American law, but it can still be dangerous to hit the streets to make your voice heard. Your devices are a treasure trove of information about you, and you may not always know who's collecting that data. Take a few minutes before you go to assess your digital and physical safety. Even if you have nothing to hide, you don't want to accidentally give law enforcement officials any information you didn't intend to share. Follow these tips to lock down your phone before a protest or other peaceful assembly.

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[–] ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca 40 points 6 hours ago (3 children)

Just don't bring it. Bring a digital pocket camera instead to document stuff.

Nowadays, you can't use a mobile phone without signing in to some Google service or Apple. It's mandatory. Giving them access to every data you own.

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 1 points 22 minutes ago

That and cell towers….

But a cheap burner. Don’t activate it. Keep it in a faraday pouch. In an emergency remove from faraday pouch and call 911. You can do that on phones you don’t activate.

But everything else, like you said, document with a digital camera.

[–] protogen420@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I use my android phons without a google acccount without having a custom rom, it is usable just that most people are too ignorant and clueless

[–] ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca 2 points 28 minutes ago

I have a Samsung phone and it is mandatory to have a Samsung account to use it.

[–] sureshot0@discuss.online 9 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

GrapheneOS or KaiOS?

[–] blinfabian@feddit.nl 1 points 1 hour ago

e/OS too? :3

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

With the SIM completely turned off, maybe. But it's still a bad idea.

[–] mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Yup. It’s a bit of a question of how paranoid are you/you feel you need to be but it may be worth keeping in mind that the baseband modem of any phone is proprietary and runs its own unaudited software the end user has no control over or insight into.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 hour ago

No need to be paranoid, IMEI/IMSI are built into the protocols. Phone networks were never built with anonymity in mind