As protesters met a wall of police surveillance this summer, tech writers set loose a flood of articles on how to “cop-proof” your phone. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi signals can be used to track you in a crowd, the articles pointed out, so it’s better to turn them off before you leave the house. Stingray devices can track you through the cellular signal, which means you might want to leave your devices on airplane mode. Police may try to search your phone if you’re detained — so experts recommend turning off biometric unlock features like fingerprints and facial recognition and rely on a password you can refuse to give up.
The common wisdom began to extend to social media, and sharing photos and videos. Uncovered faces are particularly dangerous: they provide grist for the facial recognition systems police use to identify protesters — as happened in New York. If you do take photos, equally intense countermeasures are recommended. The most advanced software will automatically blur every face it finds in your photo, turning a crowd photo becomes a sea of faceless bodies.
Capturing The Police is a Verge-wide editorial project that’s meant to both examine the experience of civilians who document and share police violence and to record the larger political moment we find ourselves in.
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It was timely advice. As protestors have flooded streets around the world, more people have become aware of just how easy it is to share more information online than you realize. And there are lots of ways your d ..
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