Creating A
Culture of Security:Living Under Surveillance
Surveillance
is the art
of monitoring the activities of persons or groups
without them knowing it. Surveillance has been an
intrinsic part of human
history. Sun Tzu's
The Art of War, written 2,500 years
ago, discusses how spies should be used against a person's enemies. But modern
electronic and computer technology have given surveillance a whole new means of
operation. No longer must it be practiced by agents; it can be automated using
computers.
Counter-surveillance is the practice of avoiding or making surveillance
difficult. Before computer networks, counter-surveillance involved physically
avoiding agents and communicating secretly. Now counter-surveillance involves
everything from knowing how to keep your purchases private to learning how to
prevent the tracking of your movements by mobile phones and Closed Circuit TV.
Levels of state surveillance
have increased, and by using computers, the government is now able to draw
together many different information sources to create profiles of persons or
groups.
Many large corporations now
use various forms of "passive" surveillance. This is primarily a
means of watching the activities of staff or for marketing, security and
advertising purposes. Some large corporations also actively use various forms
of surveillance to monitor activists and campaign groups who may impact their
operations.
As the scope of
surveillance increases, it is important that activists manage their exposure to
different types of surveillance. This will limit the damage that the
government and opposing groups can do to their work.
Personal
Counter-Surveillance
Protecting
information is the first stage of counter-surveillance. As humans, we are
creatures of habit. If we exhibit very predictable habits, this makes keeping
track of our activities easier.
The best way to begin
avoiding surveillance is to think about breaking the regular patterns in your
life-making it harder for someone to practice routine surveillance. It also masks
the times when you may undertake activities that are out of the ordinary.
Breaking regular patterns does not mean going to bed at different times, or working different hours everyday. Instead it requires that any activities you wish to avoid being the subject of surveillance are integrated into the other events in your life-but not to the extent that they become predictable. If you change the route you take to work or shop on a random basis, you make it more difficult to monitor your movements. If you build irregular appointments into activities that might involve surveillance, it creates a background "noise" in the pattern of your activities that masks any changes in your habits.
While working to keep your
personal activities safe from unwanted surveillance, the main issue you will
have to deal with is how to network with people when you need to discuss
sensitive issues.
Counter-surveillance must be
seen as a balancing of opposing objectives. It requires an effort to protect
information and activities that are sensitive, while giving less emphasis to
those activities that can be open to all. The important rule with
counter-surveillance is proportionality.
You should not, for example,
seek to avoid surveillance for issues that are not sensitive. This, of course,
assumes that sensitive work only constitutes a minor part of your activities.
When the sensitive parts of your work comprise a large part of your everyday
workload, it is more difficult to hide those activities within the patterns of
your everyday life.
If you are very good at
restricting all information about yourself and your activities, monitoring you
becomes difficult. However, you are also likely to become more isolated, suspicious and secretive in the
process, which may isolate you from
the public you are trying to engage.
With a little forethought,
despite living under surveillance, the work-you wish to protect should be able
to slip by un-noticed.
This article was excerpted from a briefing written by Paul Mobbs for
the Association for Progressive Communications. 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.
Travel
• If traveling on sensitive
business, try to use public transport. Using private cars will provide a
traceable identity.
• If you are traveling to a
sensitive meeting, take a different route going there and coming back. If
possible, do not use the same bus or station when going to or leaving the
location you are traveling to. This lessons the likelihood that your destination
will be identified.
• To counter the Closed
Circuit TV (CCTV) systems in public places, move with the crowd. Don't rush,
don't cut corners and don't look around for CCTV cameras. Alter your physical
appearance so you blend in.
• If you can include other
events or appointments as part of your journey, that will help provide an
alternate motive for traveling to that area of a town or city.
• Facial recognition systems
work primarily on the configuration of facial features. To work, they need to
get a good view of your face. Looking at a slight angle toward the ground and
wearing a hat with a brim helps to fool the system.
• Always assume that public
transport vehicles have CCTV installed- traveling during peak hours will help
to mask your presence.
• Darkness aids anonymity,
but it is not a foolproof solution to the latest CCTV cameras, which see in the
dark.
Mobile Phones
· If in doubt, turn it off.
If traveling to a sensitive
location in an urban area, do not use a cell phone within two or three miles of
the location. In rural areas, do not use it within 10 or 15 miles of your
final destination. This will prevent the creation of a trail that associates
you with that location on that day.
• If the location you are
going to is nowhere near a route you regularly travel, turn off your phone
before you start your journey there.
• If you desperately need to
mask your location, let someone else carry your phone around for the day.
• If you are traveling to a sensitive location,
don't pay for anything by credit/ debit card or take money from a cash machine.
Communications
• If you need to make a sensitive phone call
that must not be directly associated with you, do
so from a public phone booth. Be aware that the person at the other end of the
call may have their calls monitored.
• If using public phones,
try to use them in random locations rather than those that are closest to you
or are on your regular transit routes.
• If you wish to send
something sensitive through the mail, wear gloves to prevent creating
fingerprints when producing and packing the item. Do not lick the envelope or
stamps, and mail it from a different location than where you normally send your
letters.
• If you need to send a
sensitive fax, use a copy shop that has a self-service desk.
• If you desperately need to keep in communication, use cash to buy a
pay-as-you-go mobile phone. Only use it for a day or two while you are engaged
in sensitive work.
Online
• Maintain a
number of alternate personas on the Internet that give you access to web mail
and other services.
• If you need to use the
Internet, use a cybercafe; try not to use the same one more than once. Make
sure that you do not access your own Internet services from the cybercafe-use
an alternate persona.
Meetings
• When organizing a private
meeting, try to agree to meet in a different location nearby. Then direct
people to the correct meeting place as they arrive, This lessens the likelihood
of the actual location being under surveillance.
• Do not make a phone call
from a meeting, or from a public phone nearby, to a number that can be identified
with you.
• Ask people going to a private meeting to turn off mobile phones
before traveling to the meeting place.
•Alternate meeting spaces as much as possible. If you meet in a public place, pick somewhere with a high level of background noise to prevent your conversations from being overheard.
• If you must pay for something while in the area, use cash.
• Many public spaces are monitored by CCTV.
Bars, cafes and restaurants tend not to have their CCTV systems linked to a
central control room and are usually focused on the cash register.