Resources

from GiIn, 23 April 2008: Within their security divisions, each prefectural level police department and the Tokyo police maintain Kidotai, special riot units. These units were formed after riots at the Imperial Palace in 1952, to respond quickly and effectively to large public disturbances. They are also used in crowd control during festival periods, at times of natural disaster, and to reinforce regular police when necessary. Full-time riot police can also be augmented by regular police trained in riot duties. Currently, there are 10,000 in the whole riot force. more

posted 12 April 2008: 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 armor, 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 infoshop, 13 March 2008: Financiers, real-estate agents and car salesmen might be suffering from America's economic malaise, but bulging jails have triggered a profit boom for corrections companies. The United States leads the world in the number of people it incarcerates and government figures show the country's prison population grew by three percent to a record 2.3 million inmates in 2006. 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

from www.activistsecurity.org, 22 November 2007: Disclaimer: everything in this handbook is for information purposes only. Please do not use it to do anything illegal, but protect your right to protest and change the world for a better place. We cannot take responsibility for your actions, though we say that you should be as active as possible. more

from infoshop, 30 October 2007: From the company that brought you the C programming language comes Hancock, a C variant developed by AT&T researchers to mine gigabytes of the company's telephone and internet records for surveillance purposes. more

from various sources, 3 October 2007: British anti-terrorist police will be given real-time access to the massive surveillance camera network operated in London to support the Congestion Charge.

And as Automatic Number Plate Recognition surveillance camera systems are rollwed out nationally, all police will be able to track all vehicle movements, for all police purposes, not just the prevention of terrorism.  more

Dealing with bailiffs - either for an eviction or when they are trying to collect debts - can be stressful, but it is vital to understand the limits of their powers. Knowing what to do when the fuckers come sniffing round - your home, your social centre, your temporary creative space - can make a big difference to the outcome of the encounter.

While stamping repeatedly on their face is a satisfying way to spend the afternoon, it unfortunately remains against the law. So here are some tips from Walthamstow Anarchist Group on how to handle them.  more

"Earlier this month it emerged that the FBI had been remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The surveillance technique, which "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off." came to light as a result of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on the legality of the "roving bug"... more

evey | 16.12.2006 16:25 | Indymedia | Recently there was a conference for activists interested in security issues - obviously something that any activist should be interested in. Notes from the gathering are being compiled along with previous documents into a printed booklet for activists which is expected to be distributed next year.

In the meantime I've been doing a little additional research on solutions specific to securing email communication... more

Despite the introduction of the Criminal Justice Act, Squatting is still legal. Squatting means occupying empty property to live in and is a necessity for many. Squatters have the same basic rights as anyone else, and can not be evicted without the owners carrying out certain civil legal procedings first. more

An introduction to how the police are structured, especially for 'public order' situations; the command hierarchy; common tactics and police methodology.  more

What we present here is a brief guide to surviving public order situations and slowing down or preventing the police from gaining the upper hand once a situation has occurred. Bear in mind that the police are probably much better equipped and trained for close combat than you or I. They have been psyching themselves up for hours, are likely to have plenty of reserves standing by and usually feel confident with the law behind them. Beating the police is about outwitting them, not necessarily hitting them over the head. more

Despite what the police and politicians think, and despite the passing of reactionary laws such as the Criminal Justice Act and the Terrorism Act, we won't back down. What follows is some advice, mostly from questions we have been asked in the past.  more

At N30, Mayday 2000 and Mayday 2001 in London, riot police cordoned off the demonstration, corralling large numbers of people into an increasing confined area before taking their names, addresses and photographs, eventually releasing them one by one. This was done under the obscure Section 60 of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994 (originally designed to prevent minor football disturbances). more

Here are some tips on preparing yourself for a "white overalls" or other similar civil disobedience action. The idea is to help individuals defend themselves from assault by the agents of the state. more

These guidelines have been adapted from a variety of sources available on the web, including the Black Cross Health Care Collective, Action Medical, various medical journals and also from personal experience. We believe that health care is a political issue, that we should all be responsible for looking after each other and that everyone should have access to the information to be able to do that. more

In the UK, tear gas and pepper spray has not been commonly encountered at protests, although there is always the potential for use in the future, and demonstrators have been widely exposed to tear gas at demonstrations in foreign countries, eg at the anti-G8 demonstrations in Genoa and in Prague as well as the EU summit meeting in Greece. Consequently, it is useful to have some understanding of what they are and how to combat them.  more