How to Organize Safely in the Age of Surveillance

[Narrator] From threat modeling

to encrypted collaboration apps,

we collected experts' tips and tools for safely

and effectively protecting yourself,

even while being targeted and tracked by the powerful.

Here's what you need to know. Decide what to protect.

Trying to keep everything secret is neither practical

nor always desirable.

Instead, create a threat model. Identify what's sensitive.

Make an effort to protect it by encrypting it,

storing it in a safe place, or deleting it

after a certain time

and worry less about the stuff

that will eventually be public anyway.

Lock down your communications.

Use Signal for as many texts, calls

and video chats as possible

and set up disappearing messages.

Just remember that encryption isn't magic.

Consider the security of the devices on each end

of the conversation and how much you trust everyone in it.

Use secure collaboration tools.

A growing spectrum of collaboration approaches

offer a range of options,

from insecure-but-accessible Google Docs

to end-to-end encrypted

or self-hosted tools like Proton and CryptPad to storing

and editing files locally and sharing them over Signal.

Choose what works best for you based on your threat model.

Meet in real life safely.

Meeting in person eliminates many technical vulnerabilities

that could compromise

your organization's privacy and security.

But consider your threat model: if the very fact

of your meeting needs to stay secret,

physical surveillance can make in-person meetings just as

or even more risky than digital communications.

Assess, then act.

Taylor Fairbank, co-founder

of the humanitarian relief group Distributed Aid,

tells WIRED that all organizing

that runs counter to the interest

of the powerful, digital

or physical carries a threat of surveillance

and its consequences.

Fairbank says, Look at the risk and context,

make informed choices,

try to be as safe as possible.

But, my God, go out there

and help people because we need it.