Resources

by Lesley Wood, 12 July 2010, via Toronto Media Co-op: "During last week’s G20 summit, police arrested or detained over a thousand people. With guns drawn, they kicked people awake, they threatened, pepper sprayed, TASERed, tear gassed and beat those in the streets. Although the politicians declared the policing at the summit a success, popular anger at the police is at an all time high. At such moments, it is important to look closely at the tactics and strategy that were used to police dissent, not least because the models that are considered successful, tend to spread..." more

from email, 13 February 2010: "On March 31st 1990, the day before the tax was to be implemented, over 200 Haringey residents met up at Turnpike Lane tube to travel together to join over 250,000 people marching through Central London calling for mass non-payment and resistance to the tax. It was a carnival atmosphere. As the demonstration passed Thatcher's headquarters (Downing St) there was a confrontation with police, and it soon turned into a battle with mounted police and riot units. Eventually, Trafalgar Sq became a battleground as thousands of people fought police for control of the square and the area around it. The anti-poll tax movement gained world-wide coverage..." more

from olympicresistance, 19 January 2010: "As the Olympics approach, American and Canadian Border Services Agencies (Homeland Security and CBSA) have teamed up to tighten what they call "security," particularly along the BC/Washington border. This means not only an increased level of militarization at border crossings, but also an intensification in the profiling of "suspicious persons." Border agencies are working hard to expand their range of targets from migrants, people of colour and indigenous people, to political dissidents at large..." more

from imc-uk, 15 January 2010: "It will be suggested that the threat of surveillance we outline here is exaggerated and paranoid. So we thought it necessary to clarify our stance. We choose to prepare for the worst case scenario. We accept that, for instance, the chance of the police both bothering to, and being able to obtain CCTV from third parties in the event of most “public order” situations is low. However, we believe to prepare for the fact that they may is cautious. We would be paranoid if our fears stopped us from acting, but careless if we did not let our fear inform us to prepare..." more

from antifa germany, 7 January 2010: "Yearly german and european nazis march through the city of Dresden, Germany. This will show you how you could avoid danger and will inform you about the legal rights in Germany..." more

from friends, 1 January 2010: "Police tactics are currently in flux post-London G20 - this change is very important, so please feedback any new things they are doing on the ground, anything you've tried, whether they've worked or not.  Feedback contact details are at the end of this guide.   The aim of this guide is not to show you how to conduct a riot. Neither is it intended as a critique on the pros and cons of fighting with the police..." more

from riseup, 26 December 2009: "Two riseup birds recently did a presentation at the People's Summit celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Seattle WTO protests. We discussed the dangers of using corporate tools to do organizing work, in particular, the fact that you don't know what they do with your data. Thanks to some anonymous comments in a blogger's post about his research regarding a U.S. mobile phone company's release to law enforcement of its customers' geographic location information, we now have some answers..." more

from eff, 29 November 2009: "The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created this Surveillance Self-Defense site to educate the American public about the law and technology of government surveillance in the United States, providing the information and tools necessary to evaluate the threat of surveillance and take appropriate steps to defend against it..." more

from email, updated 25 November 2009: "The following is a brief walkthrough of your basic legal rights in Denmark. Also included are a few pieces of advice, which can come in handy if you are confronted by the Danish police and judicial system..." more

from various sources, 26 October 2009: "The domestic extremist term was coined by police involved in tackling criminals involved in animal rights groups sometime between 2001 and 2004. There are three little-known organisations at the heart of this apparatus. They work in tandem under the direction of Anton Setchell, who is national co-ordinator for domestic extremism for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)."

The main branch is the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, essentially a giant database of protest groups and protesters in the country... more

from imc, 11 June 2009: "In case you missed it the guide to anonymous browing published by Global Voices was updated in March this year to take account of the changes in TOR. The simple to understand guide is online as html or downloadable as a pdf..." more

from MobileActive Wiki, updated 20 February 2009: "Mobiles can be useful tools for collecting, planning, coordinating and recording activities of NGO staff and activists. But did you know that whenever your phone is on, your location is known to the network operator? Or that each phone and SIM card transmits a unique identifying code, which, unless you are very careful about how you acquire the phone and SIM, can be traced uniquely to you? " more

from legal advisers, updated 21 August 2008: This is a description of the most commonly used police stop and search powers. We have also added some information about your rights at a police station in England & Wales (not Scotland), correct as of August 2008: more

updated 18 March 2009: "Technology has changed the street protest. In centuries past, a mass of people wishing to express themselves could only be silenced by live gunfire. But the advent of riot armour, lachrymatory gases and “less-lethal” projectiles have allowed ruling establishments to squelch the voice of protesters with great ease, and even better PR.

It is the interest of this booklet to help preserve our freedoms of speech and public movement in expressing ourselves. The objective is not to ‘up the ante’ or encourage street battles..." more

from Cyptogon.con, reposted here 4 January 2008: This is a relatively old article but its all relevant to those people interested in surveillance, social control, data mining, online security, anonymity and traceability. Its written by someone who knows how the internet was developed and how it really works. As he says "A lot of times, ignorant people refer to things they don’t understand as “tinfoil” ... What follows, however, is so far out that it seems like tinfoil even to me. But then again, I haven’t been targeted by a death squad for my activities online, like some people are in many countries around the world. So, is it tinfoil? For you, maybe. For people struggling against repressive regimes, maybe not." more