From No Trace Project
This text is addressed to the international anarchist movement, which we'll define as the sum of individuals fighting for anarchist ideas around the world. This movement is in conflict with its natural enemies — the State, fascist groups, and so on — and must protect itself if it is to survive in this conflict. In this text, we make three proposals for the international anarchist movement to consider in the coming years in order to allow anarchists to continue attacking while limiting their chances of getting caught.
1. Share knowledge internationally
Our enemies organize internationally through cooperation between police and intelligence agencies and new developments in science and technology — the increasing precision of DNA forensics and the proliferation of drones being just two examples. This means that a repressive technique used in one country may soon appear in another where it is not yet being used. It also means that an effective countermeasure used by anarchists in one country may be effective in another. We should therefore share knowledge of repressive techniques and countermeasures on an international level.
Ideally, any experience of repression or experimentation with countermeasures that might be of interest to other anarchists should be written up, translated into several languages, and made public. When anarchists are arrested and brought to trial, we can often obtain court documents that reveal how they were caught: we should exploit this and publish analyses of such documents, bearing in mind that information obtained in this way may be partial or distorted. We should experiment with new countermeasures and write and publish reports on these experiments (except in cases where the State might adapt and weaken the countermeasure by reading the report). We should try to collect information at the source: read police training manuals, steal police files, analyze data leaks from police servers.
A specific feature of the international anarchist movement is its decentralization. We see this not as a weakness but as a strength: in addition to preventing the hierarchies inherent in centralized organizations, it makes it harder for our enemies to target us because they cannot topple the whole movement by disrupting one part of it. However, this decentralization also makes it harder for us to share knowledge across borders. To overcome this, we see two options: developing informal bonds with other anarchists by meeting at international book fairs and other events, and using the Internet. We propose using the No Trace Project as an international platform to share the knowledge that is suited for sharing on the Internet, not as a replacement for informal bonds but as a useful supplement to spread information beyond existing informal networks.
2. Establish a security baseline
Anarchists who carry out direct actions should analyze the risks associated with their actions and take appropriate precautions: dress anonymously, be mindful of video surveillance and DNA traces, and so on. However, this is not enough. If only those who carry out actions take precautions, it is easier for our enemies to target these individuals. This is, firstly, because they stand out: if only a handful of comrades always leave their phones at home, for example, this could be an obvious starting point for an investigation with no other specific leads. And secondly, because our enemies can get information about them through their friends who do not carry out actions: if someone doesn't use social media but is mentioned on their friends' social media, for example, an investigation could query their friends' social media to get information about them. We should therefore establish a security baseline that everyone in anarchist networks agrees to follow, including those who have never carried out direct actions and have no intention of doing so.
We can't say what this baseline should be, as it will depend on each local context, but we can give some ideas. As a bare minimum, everyone should help hide information from our enemies by not speculating about who is involved in an action, not bragging about one's own participation in an action, not talking to the police, and encrypting any computer or phone used for conversations with other anarchists using a strong password. Discuss sensitive matters exclusively outdoors and without electronic devices, and don't make it obvious to your social environment who you are having sensitive conversations with (e.g. don't ask someone to “go for a walk” in front of people who aren't involved in the project being discussed). In addition, we think everyone should stop using social media (and definitely stop posting photos of other anarchists, even with their consent, because this helps the State map anarchist networks) and leave their phones at home at all times (not just during actions). Carrying your phone with you has security implications for everyone you interact with.
It can be difficult to convince people to follow such a security baseline, especially if they think they have no personal interest in following it. If someone is reluctant, we should remind them that it's not just their security that's at stake, but also the security of other anarchists around them who may be carrying out or planning to carry out direct actions. Everyone who wants actions to happen has an interest in making anarchist networks as difficult as possible for the authorities to repress.
3. Explore new horizons
Our enemies evolve over time as they refine their strategies and techniques. We should prepare not for the battles that already took place, but for those yet to come. We should therefore go beyond our current security practices, anticipate the evolution of our enemies, and develop new countermeasures.
Here are three issues we think the international anarchist movement should explore in the coming years.
Drones
Aerial surveillance is rapidly becoming cheaper and more efficient. How should we react to the presence of police drones at riots, anarchist events, and so on? How can we detect or take down drones? Should we prepare for the risk of drones being used for routine aerial patrols, and if so, how?
Facial recognition technologies
In 2023, a journalist tracked down German left-wing militant Daniela Klette, who had been in clandestinity for decades, by using facial recognition technology to match a decades-old photo of her with a recent photo from Facebook taken during a dance class. What can we do against this threat? How can we prepare for the increasing integration of facial recognition technology into public video surveillance systems?
Lack of insight into police activity
Until a few years ago, radio scanners were used by anarchists to monitor police frequencies, for example to learn about nearby police activity while carrying out a direct action. In most contexts, this is now impossible because police communications are encrypted. Can we develop new techniques to functionally replace radio scanners or, more generally, to gain insight into police activity in a given area?
About the authors
We're the No Trace Project. For the past three years, we've been building tools to help anarchists understand the capabilities of their enemies, undermine surveillance efforts, and ultimately act without getting caught. We plan to continue in the years to come. We welcome feedback. You can visit our website at notrace.how, and contact us at notrace@autistici.org.
This text is available as a zine (in Letter and A4 dimensions).
Let's prepare ourselves, and may luck be on our side.
Comments
inb4 "saying anarchists
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/16/2024 - 13:07
inb4 "saying anarchists should do things is authoritarian"
Don't you know that security
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/16/2024 - 20:30
In reply to inb4 "saying anarchists by anon (not verified)
Don't you know that security culture is ableist?
Some specific tenets of the
anon (not verified) Sun, 12/22/2024 - 18:21
In reply to Don't you know that security by anon (not verified)
Some specific tenets of the security cultures predominant in anglophone anarchist circles are ableist, yes. (& probably other contexts too, but I know less about them)
Note: this text is available in other languages
anon (not verified) Sat, 11/16/2024 - 16:40
This text is available on the No Trace Project's website in French, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Tagalog. See the links at the top of this page:
https://notrace.how/blog/three-proposals/three-proposals.html
One way to take down police drones
Anarchy Air (not verified) Mon, 11/18/2024 - 19:39
is with drones of our own. Direct air to air collision works, in fact it was claimed by the cops at Standing Rock that a drone was shot down by cops after drones were used to chase away manned police helicopters. A one for one exchange ratio gets expensive, so there are also options like towing releaseable prop foulers of bicycle brake cable or even braided fishing line to tangle up rotors on enemy drones. Tow a small parachute to keep the cable tight and visible, attack from above, and pull the cable down into enemy rotors and propellers. In Ukraine nets fired from drones have been used in drone to drone combat.
Fixed wing drones will outperform helicopter drones, and against typical four rotor police drones can be effective miniature fighter aircraft. Take down five cop drones and you're an ace!
Oh yeah its illegal, so is everything else that works.
Can be a way... tho why
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/18/2024 - 20:11
In reply to One way to take down police drones by Anarchy Air (not verified)
Can be a way... tho why spending thousands of bucks being on drones when you can just DIY your own anti-drone gun outta a unidirectional wifi antenna/amplifier, a cheap wifi router and a battery? There's still no known countermeasures for microwave disruptions on drones, a.k.a. "drone jamming", and you can disable several just with one device.
Any text on this?
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 00:44
In reply to Can be a way... tho why by anon (not verified)
Do you know any good, practical text on drone jamming? A text that would take into account the specific conditions in which anarchists operate (i.e. in an asymmetrical conflict with the State, and without a lot of money), and ideally written by anarchists or anti-authoritarians. If you know such a text, I'm sure the No Trace Project will be interested :)
I heard The Command and his
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 07:36
In reply to Any text on this? by anon (not verified)
I heard The Command and his goon squad have trained bald eagles to intercept them over at blue ridge bolo
Commander*
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 07:37
In reply to I heard The Command and his by anon (not verified)
Commander*
Master's tools, brah.
anon (not verified) Mon, 11/18/2024 - 21:28
In reply to One way to take down police drones by Anarchy Air (not verified)
Master's tools, brah.
Use a slingshot and a rock. Wear a hat and a MASK.
Note that this method is
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 00:47
In reply to Master's tools, brah. by anon (not verified)
Note that this method is described with some amount of details in the "How to Shoot Down a Drone" text on the No Trace Project website:
https://notrace.how/resources/read/how-to-shoot-down-a-drone.html
The issue with this method seems to be the required accuracy (it's not so easy to target a moving drone with a slingshot) and the range limitation.
Better be using some YUGE
anon (not verified) Tue, 11/19/2024 - 08:30
In reply to Master's tools, brah. by anon (not verified)
Better be using some YUGE slingshot with a scope if you wanna even touch a 2-foot wide drone flying at like 500 feet above, lol.
take care about security but dont become paranoid
rebel (not verified) Thu, 11/21/2024 - 21:19
I would recommend to anarchists to use tor email service providers instead of radical servers because administrators of tor emails dont know anything about you and you can use email for illegal things, when you get email from anarchist servers they want to know who you are and do you have recommendations, it means secret service can find you if you use email for illegal things, radical servers are not anonymous like tor emails. Iam agreed anarchists should not use facebook to discuss about illegal things but they can use facebook for legal spreading of anarchist idea and books, anarchists who make illegal actions should have Tor chat or Tor email for discussion with other people. in any case, most west european anarchists dont do anything illegal and they are just paranoid with security culture, they are affraid from any new person.
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