Mitigations

Anonymous dress is the practice of wearing clothing with two goals in mind: to hide your body features, and to ensure that the clothing itself cannot be used to identify you.

An anonymous phone is a phone that is not tied to your identity. A burner phone is a type of anonymous phone that you discard shortly after use.

Anonymous purchases is the practice of purchasing items without associating your identity with the purchase.

Anti-surveillance is the practice of taking active measures to evade (“shake off”) a mobile physical surveillance effort.

Many repressive techniques are effectively mitigated by a simple maxim: the best defense is a strong offense.

An enormous number of convictions are based on self-incrimination — behaviour that essentially amounts to snitching on yourself.

Background checks are used to verify that a person is who they claim to be. They can help ensure that someone in your network isn't an infiltrator, informant, or otherwise lying about their identity for malicious reasons.

Biometric concealment includes any practice that obscures biometric identifiers (unique physical or biological characteristics) that can be used for identification purposes.

A bug search is the active process of trying to detect the presence of covert surveillance devices in a building, vehicle, or outdoor area. The primary technique in this process is a manual, visual search of the area. A secondary technique is to use specialized detection equipment.

When planning an action, careful action planning is the sensible development of the action plan. It follows reconnaissance.

Clandestinity is the process of breaking away from your established identity and begin a new life with a fake identity.

Compartmentalization is a security principle in which different identities (or projects) are kept separate so that they cannot be connected, and the compromise of one is isolated from the compromise of the others. This principle can be applied to both digital and non-digital identities.

Computer and mobile forensics is a highly technical discipline aimed at identifying a compromise on a computer or phone. False negatives are common.

DNA minimization protocols allow you to manipulate objects while minimizing the amount of DNA you leave on them. Some protocols focus on never leaving DNA traces on an object in the first place. Other protocols focus on removing DNA traces from an object by chemically destroying DNA molecules.

The foundation of digital best practices is to limit the reach of technology into your life. Try to limit your use of digital devices, in particular for sensitive activities. That said, there are a number of best practices that you can follow when using digital devices.

Encryption is a process that renders data unintelligible to anyone who doesn't have the decryption key (often a password). Encryption can be applied to data “at rest” (such as files stored on your computer) and data “in motion” (such as messages in a messaging application).

A fake ID (short for fake identity) is an identity you assume in place of your established identity to avoid detection by an adversary. You can have multiple fake IDs, and you can switch between your established identity and your fake IDs depending on the context.

Gloves can prevent you from leaving fingerprints and DNA on surfaces you touch, and can hide your hand characteristics.

Masking your writing style is the practice of altering the way you write to counter author identification by forensic linguistics.

Metadata is data about data, i.e. information about other information. Metadata erasure is the removal of metadata. Metadata resistance is the ability of a digital system not to create metadata in the first place, or to encrypt the metadata it creates so that it cannot be read by an adversary.

The need-to-know principle states that sensitive information should be shared only when it is necessary to do so, and only to the extent necessary. This makes repression more difficult by controlling the flow of information through networks to make them more opaque to outsiders and harder to disrupt.

A network map exercise consists of creating a graphical representation of the links between you and the people in your network in order to critically examine those links. This exercise is designed to sharpen your ability to make informed and critical choices about the people you associate with, with the ultimate goal of making your network more resilient to infiltration attempts.

Outdoor and device-free conversations is the practice of conducting sensitive or incriminating conversations outdoors and without electronic devices, to ensure that they are not overheard by an adversary.

Physical intrusion detection is the process of detecting when an adversary enters or attempts to enter a space, for example for a covert house search. You can do this by making sure there is always someone in the space who would notice if an adversary tried to enter, or by monitoring the space with a video surveillance system.

Preparing for house raids is the process of taking precautionary measures to minimize the impact of a potential house raid or covert house search.

Preparing for repression is the process of taking precautionary measures to minimize the impact of repression. Repression often hits hardest when we're least prepared. Such preparation may seem emotionally draining, but we find that it actually allows us to act more freely. Preparing for repression can have practical or psychological dimensions.

Prisoner support is the crucial process of organizing material, logistical, and emotional support for comrades behind bars. Beyond the ethical imperative to support our prisoners, people are less likely to turn informant if they feel supported and connected to the movements for which they risked their freedom.

Reconnaissance is the gathering of information about the target of an action. It precedes action planning. It can be done either physically (e.g., by traveling to the action site to inspect it) or digitally (e.g., by researching the target on the web). You should take into account the techniques an adversary may use against you during reconnaissance as much as you take them into account during the action itself.

Stash spots and safe houses are two ways to store incriminating materials. If incriminating materials are stored in a stash spot or safe house instead of in your home, they won't be found by an adversary in the event of a house raid or covert house search. A stash spot is a hidden place, often outdoors, that is unlikely to be stumbled upon. A safe house is a house, apartment, or other space that an adversary doesn't know you're using.

Surveillance detection is the practice of detecting if you are under physical surveillance, that is, detecting if you are being directly observed by an adversary. There are two types of surveillance detection: passive surveillance detection and active surveillance detection. Counter-surveillance is a sophisticated form of active surveillance detection.

Tamper-evident preparation is the process of taking precautionary measures to make it possible to detect when something has been physically accessed by an adversary.

Transportation by bike is the practice of using a bicycle instead of other modes of transportation.