Geofencing - they know where you are.
Government, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Cellular network providers can all find out where you are with the help of your device emitting and receiving radio waves. These entities use various methods to track you down at any given time. This is called Geofencing.
Tower Triangulation
This is where multiple cellular towers are used to geometrically locate devices connecting or pinging them by measuring the strength of the connection from each tower.
more towers present around you = more accurate location
Towers even at a distance of 5 miles from you can be used to triangulate your location precisely.
Wifi Triangulation
Wifi routers often interact together especially when they're from the same ISP. When your device recognizes a wifi network nearby (as seen in the wifi details option of your phone) which also allows them to determine the signal strength of each router.
This can be used to geometrically determine your device's location based on how strong the nearby signals are, even when you're not connected to it.
Two routers are enough to track you precisely upto a 6 feet error. You're surrounded by tens of them.
On Android and Apple devices, wifi can also be used to geofence you with GPS through Google or Apple Network Location Provider (NLP) service. Making it even easier to geo-locate your device.
GPS/A-GPS
Your phone constantly searches for satellites to connect to Global Positioning System (GPS) signals.
Both Android and Google devices use Google-SUPL service for gps queries - [supl.google.com:7275]. This happens even if you do not connect your phone to a WiFi or Cellular data.
Blocking this service greatly impacts cellular data connectivity and disables location services on your device.
(A-GPS stands for 'Assisted GPS'. It is when the SUPL GPS service works with the on-device GPS module to be even efficient in location tracking.)
How to prevent all of this - staying Anonymous.
Reminder: Anonymity is when you are amongst a group of people, and you are indistinguishable from the other members of the group.
Look the same
To minimize the risk of being identified by police or surveillence devices like CCTV, protestors including you should adopt a uniform. The best way to do this is implementing the following.
- Wearing all black - (long sleeve tshirts, pants, socks, shoes, gloves, glasses, and masks.)
- No jewellery - necklaces, watches, earrings, bracelets, etc.
- Dress up such that you're always ready for a run.
- Do not touch surfaces with your bare hands and leave potential fingerprints.
- Do not carry any weapon that might get you in trouble in the court.
Internet and you
To not be identified using the geofencing methods above, you should take some precautions before and after you join the protest.
- Leave your phone ACTIVATED at YOUR HOME.
- Use sites like Openwifimap through tor to pre-scan and find free WiFi around the protest to use in a secondary phone.
[WARNING: Do this only if you read the end of the article to know more about secondary phone].
- Use a Faraday bag at all times to store your secondary phone when you don't need to use it.
How to setup the secondary phone?
WARNING: Best preferred Android ROM is GrapheneOS. If you REALLY NEED a secondary phone and it is compatible with LineageOS, you can proceed with it, but remember, you WILL NEED to make changes to the LineageOS firewall (+ block supl.google.com:7275) for it to be even close to Graphene in terms of security.
WARNING/TIP: If you're proficient with linux and have experience using ubuntu touch, you can proceed with the same steps of setting up and precautions after you have secured its firewall.
SETTING UP:
- Check if the secondary phone you want to use is compatible with grapheneOS/lineageOS or not. Only proceed if it is. Otherwise, don't use a secondary phone at all.
- Back up any important data and flash your phone with grapheneOS or LineageOS after a factory reset and check if it booted in your new ROM. DO NOT CONNECT TO ANY WIFI OR CELLULAR NETWORK. Now switch your phone off.
- When you're about to leave for the protest, go far away from both - your home and the protest site; and factory reset your Graphene/Lineage ROM phone again and connect to nearby wifi from the WiFi list you got from openwifimap.
- Put the phone in a faraday bag at all times when not in use. Learn how to make Faraday bag here, here, or here.
WARNING: Make sure to check whether your faraday bag works on not at your home prior the protest by putting your or someone else's phone inside it with cellular data and gps/location enabled and trying to call/track it.
Nihilism
Until there is Nothing left.
Creative Commons Zero: No Rights Reserved
About nihilist
Donate XMR: 8AUYjhQeG3D5aodJDtqG499N5jXXM71gYKD8LgSsFB9BUV1o7muLv3DXHoydRTK4SZaaUBq4EAUqpZHLrX2VZLH71Jrd9k8
Contact: nihilist@contact.nowhere.moe (PGP)
