Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who plan to “shut down” the Democratic National Convention this week are taking cues from New York City, where protests on college campuses were orchestrated with the help of an encrypted messaging network.
Over the spring, student groups and pro-Palestinian organizations used the app Telegram to distribute how-to manuals on occupying buildings and other rally tactics, provide real-time updates on police movements and, in some cases, share explicitly pro-Hamas content.
And there are signs protesters are using the same tactics to plan massive demonstrations at the convention, where organizers hope to pressure Vice President Kamala Harris to take a harder stance against the Israeli government and its military campaign in Gaza.
“Make it great like ‘68,” one group posted to Telegram, referencing large Vietnam War protests at the DNC that year. “Shut down the DNC for Gaza!”
The post, which encouraged demonstrators to show up outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago at 7 p.m. on Aug. 20, was circulated on Resistance News Network, an organization on the radar of experts on extremism.
Telegram isnt E2EE, Signal is a better option
For activism things like this, Briar is actually amazing. In case of internet shutdown it will continue to work over local WLAN and bluetooth with mesh functionality. With enough users in a protest, you can create a local isolated network completely offline. Also if you ever take part in something where you expect to be arrested but need a phone, set up a panic button system to quickly wipe your phone.
Wow, didnt know Briar could do mesh!
You’re right, that is by far the better option then for protests
The only problem is that there isn’t an iOS version, which can be a problem for some. But yeah, good luck to the autorities to block that.
And IMO if you’re protesting, you may want to have a cheap Android phone you’re willing to lose, with only the apps and data that you need (ie: F-Droid, Briar, Organic Maps, Ripple, Cryptomator with encrypted photo backup to the cloud). If the autorities takes it from you it will be of limited value to them, and you’ll have your main phone safe at home.
Not being on iOS is a pretty big showstopper for young people in the US.
Was just about to chime in with the same. I haven’t had any contacts on briar, but plenty on meshtastic. Both serve the same purpose. Meshtastic needs a bit of extra hardware but has great range, briar works on your phone as-is.
Either way, E2EE fails once someone has their device seized and are compelled to give over access to said device. All well and good being encrypted, until someome gets hold of the other end
Which is why you need e2ee plus a system that actually makes the messages transient.
Alternatively, deniable encryption. TLDR - two access codes. One is “true” and shows the real message. The other also “decrypts” the message, but the clear text is incorrect (not the original messages) but appear to be legitimate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption
Are there any programs out there that do this?
Shhh heh. If they catch one person who takes things way too far because they think Telegram is e2ee then I’d be okay with that