Many repressive techniques are effectively mitigated by a simple maxim: the best defense is a strong offense.
Mass digital surveillance is impossible if the Internet backbone has been taken offline by cutting fiber optic cables. Video surveillance depends not only on network connectivity, but also on physical cameras that are too decentralized to effectively protect against sabotage. A witness can be intimidated into not testifying in an upcoming trial if the car outside their house is torched while they sleep. Informants and infiltrators can be immiserated and attacked in countless creative ways. Increased police presence somewhere means the possibility of decreased police presence somewhere else. Forensic labs can go up in smoke. Police communications depend on TETRA[1] and P25[2] antennas, and police operations depend on the integrity of their vehicle fleets, stations, and individual officers' feelings of safety. The possibilities for attack are limited only by one's imagination.
Techniques addressed by this mitigation
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Alarm systems | Alarm systems — or the communication lines they use to send alert signals — can be destroyed before or during an action. Wireless alert signals can also be jammed with a jamming device. Note however that some alarm systems operate by sending signals periodically or continuously, even when nothing abnormal is detected. In such cases, destroying the alarm system will cause its signal to be interrupted, which may be interpreted as an alert and trigger an intervention. | |
| Guards | You can incapacitate guards to prevent them from interfering with an action. For example, in their actions on logging companies machinery in so-called Chile, Mapuche people have neutralized guards by disarming them[3], tying them up[4] or shooting at them[5]. | |
| Increased police presence | If an increased police presence is organized in anticipation of a public demonstration, it can be inconsequential if the crowd is large and fierce enough. Decentralized and autonomous forces are more agile than the rigid chain of command that police agencies rely on for crowd control. For example, despite years of planning to militarize Hamburg, Germany, for the G20 summit, rioters were able to liberate a neighborhood from police occupation for an entire night[6]. | |
| Infiltrators | You can attack infiltrators when uncovered or years later[7] to discourage the practice — police infiltrators are likely to be less enthusiastic if there is a local precedent of violence against them. | |
| Informants | You can attack informants when uncovered or years later to discourage others from cooperating. | |
| Police patrols | To reduce the likelihood of a police patrol disturbing an action, you can distract the police by launching a near-simultaneous attack on the other side of the neighborhood, or disrupt their communications by burning the cell tower used for police communications. To prevent a police patrol from following you after an action, or to slow them down, you can use some tactics either preventively or during the pursuit: crow's feet or spike strips, gunfire, barricades, stones, fireworks, etc. | |
| Physical surveillance | ||
| Aerial | During demonstrations, you can take down drones with fireworks, hack them, or blind them with lasers. See also 5 widely accessible ways to take down drones. | |
| Mass surveillance | ||
| Civilian snitches | If a citizen follows you after an action, you can scare them off with threats or pepper spray. If a citizen tries to call the police, you can destroy their phone. | |
| Police files | You can destroy cabinets that store police files on paper and data centers that store them digitally. | |
| Video surveillance | There are many ways to disable surveillance cameras. | |