Creating A Culture Of Security: Preparing for a Raid Before it Happens
Nothing
can truly prepare someone for a full-scale invasion of privacy such as a raid
but taking a few of these steps will help ensure that you don't compromise your
own freedom or that of others in the course of your activist life.
During
recent years, some activists involved in organizing demonstrations and
gatherings have found themselves on the wrong end of search warrants. Often
these warrants are secured on bogus grounds, and searches are carried out as
harassment tactics. As the
recent
Royal Canadian Mounted Police raid of an Animal Liberation Front spokesperson's
home shows (see Earth First! Journal September-October 2002), even speaking
out in support of direct action can lead to equipment and materials seizures
that can be personally and organizationally disruptive.
The
following tips are meant to assist you in preparing for the worst: a raid on
your home, office or infoshop.
•
Use scenarios to strategize: Building scenarios helps you to mentally and
physically
prepare
for an event like this-though you will never be fully ready for an invasion of
this scale. Only you know the work that you do and what specifics would be
impacted in a search and seizure operation. What do you need to access daily
that could be seized? Do you have other illegal items that could be used to
incriminate you? Walk yourself through what you would do from the moment the
police show up with a search warrant.
•
Encrypt and wipe: All files-not just those that are sensitive-on your computer
hard drive should be encrypted using a program such as PGP disk (available at www.pgpi.org). This includes cache files, email (your whole email
program should be set up on an encrypted partition), image archives and text
documents. Wipe all free space on your hard drive weekly using a program such
as PGP or Burn (for Macs); this makes retrieving data from your hard drive
difficult if not impossible.
•
Backups, backups, backups: If you lost all your data tomorrow-how would you
function? Your best strategy for getting back to work is making regular backups
and quietly storing them with a trusted friend or in a safe deposit box not
connected to you. Don't just back up your computer files, also make copies of
any paper files that you could not live without and store them in a sealed
envelope in a safe place.
•
Clean up your desk and filing cabinets: Ever write down a password on a piece
of paper and then shove it into a file? Ever write down a phone number of a
person you don't want to be officially connected to? All those bits of paper
start to add up to a lot of information after a while. Go through your desk and
transfer that data into a secure place, like an encrypted disk, and then
securely dispose of the paper. Likewise, go through filing cabinets every few
months and pull out old phone lists, research that is no longer useful and
anything else you don't want the police to get their hands on.
•
Know your home and its contents: Have you had a lot of roommates or traveling
friends visit throughout the years? It is essential to clean up after someone
visits or moves out, so you aren't storing items you don't want to be connected
to.
•
Your electronic organizer and cell phone: Are all your phone numbers stored on
your cell phone or palm pilot? Where would you get that information if the police
had a warrant to seize those items as well? An encrypted backup zip disk
should go along with your computer backups.
•
Emergency numbers and support: Keep a lawyer's number on hand, as well as the
numbers
of anyone who would support you during and after a raid. Make sure that the
people you live with know where they can get that information if necessary, and
also that they know what to do in case of a raid. Most importantly, don't
forget that you should not talk to police before, during or after the raid, and
you should contact a lawyer for assistance as soon as possible.
There
are many reasons to develop security-consciousness in the activist community.
The information provided here is an attempt to begin to satisfy the questions
activists ask about computer security and overall security culture. For more information,
visit security.tao.ca.