I was invited to help train activists at risk during Civil Rights Defender's[^1] Defender's Days. You can watch the full closing event on CRD's Bambuser[^2] channel.
I spent a total of 5 hours in scheduled sessions training activists on digital security, Internet surveillance, and how to protect their communications from mass surveillance. In the sessions, we had some good discussions about why do we need these tools, how to use them, and how risky mobile phones and leaking IP addresses can be to individuals and those with which they work. There were many more offline conversations over arranged meals to discuss individual concerns and situations. I learned much more about the situation in Moldova[^3], Transistria[^4], Burma[^5], Vietnam[^6], and Bahrain[^7] through long conversations and sharing of experiences. Many of these people work with those exiled through repeated assassination attempts and direct threats by the government. Their primary concern is the safety of their families and their colleagues. Many of the exiled people moved right outside the border of their country to keep in touch with their colleagues and families still in the country. Their concerns about cross-border kidnappings and physical safety are very real. Digital security always seems trivial compared to these threats. All of the people with which I had conversations had been through at least three "digital security" trainings from various organizations. None of them actually continue to use any of their training in their day to day work, even those confirmed to have been targeted by state-sponsored malware. Their core attitude is that they don't worry about the NSA and other global organizations spying on them, as they're consumed with their local government already spying on them, both digitally and physically. It wasn't until we started talking about protecting the safety of others that they understood the need for digital security and safer practices. There are many supporters of these activist organizations within the country, but getting them to do more than post flyers and spread the word is sometimes challenging. By having better digital security practices in an easy to use manor, many believe more people would take a risk to help out. The one thing consistent with all of the conversations is the palpable feeling and expression of fear. It's easy to tell the activists now living in safer environments from those living in hostile locations. Many wished to be in exile in rich, democratic regimes like Stockholm, Berlin, or Copenhagen, but commitment to the cause or economic realities keep them in their homes. Learning to train people who have been through repeated or constant trauma is an interesting topic. Many of these people decided that having to hear about traumatic events or stories from other trainees diminishes their ability to learn and change habits to use these tools. As a whole, they felt that long-term programs to help individual organizations is what is needed. A 1 to 3 day digital security training doesn't help them when they go back home and run into issues, or try to convince others in their groups to use the tools about which they learned during the training. They wanted a sort of help desk and person to person relationship with an expert in the tools to be able to use them safely. They all heard of Tor, and some use it daily. However, the most common tool everyone used was chat, whether via facebook, gchat, what's app, viber, skype, or something else. I explained how just about all chat networks encrypt from the user to the provider's server, rather than from user to user. They all understood what it meant to trust the provider as the endpoint of the encryption versus end to end. Teaching them about OTR[^8] was valuable. I offered that we have Tor-specific help[^9] in a few languages to make using Tor Browser safer and easier. All in all, it was a great week to be in Stockholm and help out a number of people around the world. I learned a great deal about what's going on at the ground level in many of these countries. I was interviewed by Cambridge Community TV[^10] about the experience as well. [^1] https://www.civilrightsdefenders.org [^2] http://bambuser.com/v/4504988 [^3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova [^4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria [^5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma [^6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam [^7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahrain [^8] https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/ [^9] https://www.torproject.org/about/contact.html.en#support [^10] http://www.cctvcambridge.org/CivilRightsDefenders -- Andrew pgp 0x6B4D6475 _______________________________________________ tor-reports mailing list [email protected] https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-reports
