If y'all're taking to the streets to demand justice for the victims of police brutality and homicide, you lot may want to leave your telephone at home. No matter how peaceful your behavior, you are at risk of getting arrested or assaulted by police. Cops might confiscate your phone and search it regardless of whether or not they're legally allowed to, or they might try to break it, especially if it contains photos or video of their fierce or illegal actions.

At the same time, it'south a good idea to bring a phone to a protest so you tin record what's happening and get the message out on social media. Filming police is completely legal and inside your rights, and it's one of the few tools citizens have against police brutality. It'south also important to be able to communicate with others in real fourth dimension or to find your friends in case you get separated.

To reconcile this tension — between wanting to protect your privacy and wanting to digitally certificate protests and police misdeeds — the safest option is to go out your primary telephone, which contains a massive corporeality of private information about you, at home and instead bring a specially prepared burner phone to protests.

I hash out how to do this at length below, and in the video above.

What if I Tin can't Beget a Burner Telephone?

I bought a Nokia i.3 smartphone for $99, likewise every bit iii months of prepaid phone service for $twoscore. If this is too expensive for you, yous may have other options:

  • If you have an sometime telephone collecting dust in a drawer, every bit long every bit it nevertheless works and the bombardment however holds a accuse, you lot tin can employ this every bit your burner telephone rather than buying a new ane. You merely need a new SIM carte du jour, like one that comes with prepaid cell service. Brand sure to factory reset the telephone before getting ready to protest.
  • In that location are even cheaper phones and prepaid service options than the ones I chose, and these tin work fine equally well.
  • If you desire to avoid paying for telephone service for your second phone, depending on your electric current cell phone provider and what types of phones you lot have, you may be able to remove the SIM menu from your chief phone and insert it into your burner phone, then put it back after the protest. This volition cause all calls and texts to temporarily get to your burner phone instead of your main 1. You'll want to make sure the SIM card slot on the second phone can adapt the size of the SIM bill of fare you have on your primary phone.

If a separate burner phone still isn't an choice and you determine y'all need to bring your primary phone, here are some steps to have to brand information technology safer and less likely for your private data to stop up in the hands of the police:

  • Disable fingerprint and confront unlock, and instead require typing a passcode or password to unlock your telephone. This makes it take longer to become into your phone, simply information technology also makes it considerably harder for law to get in without your consent.
  • Brand sure your passcode or password is not easily guessable. If you're using a numeric passcode, it should exist at least 6 digits, but longer is better.
  • Set upwardly a SIM PIN, which prevents police from removing the SIM card from your phone and inserting it into another, which would allow them to take over your phone number. Here are iPhone instructions and Android instructions for doing this. If you lot set a SIM PIN, yous'll need to type information technology every fourth dimension you reboot your phone in addition to your passcode.
  • If you're using Android, make sure your telephone's storage is encrypted (all iPhones have encrypted storage). On most Android phones, you tin look in the Settings app, under Security > "Encrypt phone" to find phone encryption settings.
  • Disable every smartphone characteristic that isn't necessary like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and location services. You lot tin as well keep your telephone in plane mode when you don't need to use the network. This volition make your telephone leak less data that police can apply to runway you.

The Markup published some expert steps to have before bringing your primary telephone into a protest, and the Electronic Borderland Foundation has a proficient guide also.

At that place are additional tips for not-burner phones in a video I fabricated with my colleague Lauren Feeney in 2017, "How to Protect Your Privacy at a Protest."

Picking Out a Burner Phone

The principal criteria for picking out a cheap burner telephone is cost, which means iPhones are out. You may be able to find an quondam or refurbished iPhone for around $200, but Android phones can do the job just equally well for much less. Information technology's common for low-cease Android phones to be riddled with security issues that never get fixed, so the next criteria is finding a telephone that supports the latest security updates.

With this in heed, I settled on the Nokia ane.3, which I bought for $99 on Amazon. This phone was released in March 2020, and information technology comes with the latest version of Android (the Go edition for low-end devices). It seems to have a adept battery life and a decent photographic camera, which is about all that'due south required for this phone.

I was also looking for a cheap prepaid phone plan and ended up choosing Mint Mobile. I ordered a SIM bill of fare that comes with iii months of service, also on Amazon, for $40.

burner-phone-box

Nokia ane.iii smartphone ($99) and Mint Mobile SIM card with 3 months of service ($40).

Photo: Micah Lee

I'm using this phone and this phone service, but these steps should be similar no matter what model phone or phone service provider you get with.

Using a Countersign Manager

Everyone who is serious about digital security should be using a password manager. Countersign managers are apps that create and store passwords for you, allowing you to utilize strong, random passwords without needing to memorize them. All your passwords are saved in an encrypted vault, and you unlock them using a single passphrase that you practice memorize.

The process of setting up this burner telephone requires keeping track of a agglomeration of passwords, so if you're not already using ane, you should set 1 up start. Some proficient options are Bitwarden, KeePassXC, LastPass, and 1Password.

When yous're setting upwardly your burner phone, you'll want to relieve the following information in your countersign manager:

  • Username and password for prepaid mobile service account
  • Username and password for burner Google business relationship
  • Pivot for unlocking the phone
  • Pivot for Signal
  • Any other PINs or login information related to your phone

Setting Up and Locking Down the Nokia 1.three or Other Android Telephone

Watch the video for a complete tutorial on configuring the Nokia 1.three to get ready to bring to a protest. Much of the advice applies to other up-to-date Android phones. The tutorial steps include:

  • Inserting the prepaid Mint Mobile SIM card and activating cell phone service
  • Creating a burner Google account to keep with the burner phone
  • Installing arrangement updates, and adjusting all of the Android settings to exist as secure, and to leak as piffling data, as possible
  • Installing and configuring the Signal app, and adding the contacts you lot'll need during the protest to the device in such a mode that they don't get uploaded to the cloud
  • Installing social media apps
  • Setting upward Google Photos to automatically upload photos and videos to the cloud, so that you lot'll exist able to recover them from some other device even if police confiscate or break your phone

I also went to a Black Lives Affair protest in Oakland, California, to field exam this burner telephone. The video includes photos and footage that I took so you tin can see the quality of the photographic camera.

oakland-nokia1.3

Protestation photograph was taken with the Nokia 1.3 burner phone in Oakland, CA, on June eight, 2020.

Photo: Micah Lee

A Notation About Anonymity

If y'all carry a phone with you, you don't take location privacy. Police are able to use devices called prison cell-site simulators, besides known as Stingrays or IMSI-catchers, to monitor and collect data from all phones at a protest. Additionally, telecom and tech companies collect their own vast location databases from phones, and this sort of data is not possible to anonymize.

Using a burner telephone tin can help with this problem, peculiarly if yous leave it powered off or in airplane mode except when you demand to utilise information technology. But if you actually want to make certain your burner phone isn't continued to your identity in any way, you have to do a lot more than work:

  • Y'all have to buy the phone and phone service in person using cash instead of online, and pick a carrier that allows you to activate service without asking for identification.
  • Whenever you demand to use the net — outset on your computer to actuate your phone service, and and so on your burner phone to install updates and apps — you need to do and so anonymously by using Tor Browser or a public Wi-Fi network that'southward far from your habitation.
  • You should never have your primary telephone and your burner phone powered on in the same place at the same time, and y'all should never ability on your burner phone at your house.

If they search your burner, they'll gain admission to far less information nearly your life, your friends, and your activism.

You also need to take boosted steps to stay bearding at a protest, such equally wearing nondescript clothes, covering your face (you lot should be doing this anyway since we're in the eye of a global coronavirus pandemic), roofing tattoos, and making a plan to avoid license plate readers or using public transit cards that can rails your movements.

Keeping yourself completely anonymous while using a burner phone for protests is exterior the telescopic of this article. Instead, these steps present a middle ground where it's more hard, but non impossible, for police to learn your identity, and if they confiscate and search your burner telephone, they'll proceeds admission to far less individual information most your life, your friends, and your activism than if they had confiscated your principal telephone.

Before the Protest

Each time you're preparing to get to a protest, information technology'southward important to know exactly what you'll be bringing with you. Go out all electronics at dwelling except for your burner telephone: Don't bring a laptop, a smartwatch (sad, your steps won't count), USB sticks, or anything else. And if you're planning on using your burner telephone to bring to different protests, brand sure to delete all your photos and videos from the burner telephone after copying them to another device, and to delete whatsoever Betoken conversations from previous protests, before you head out.

It's always safest to go to protests with a buddy or a group of friends. You lot should put the phone numbers of everyone you know who will be at the protest in your burner phone in case y'all need to contact them. If your friends are bringing burner phones of their own, put their burner numbers in your contacts.

Y'all should also brand sure yous know who to call in case you lot get arrested. Protestation organizers should provide attendees with a legal back up phone number, often run by an organisation like the National Lawyers Guild. Yous should write this phone number on your skin with a permanent marker. If you get arrested, the police will confiscate your phone so you won't exist able to look it up there. Y'all'll want to telephone call this number from jail in order to get legal support.

And it's important to keep in mind that the coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing. Brand sure to bring a face up mask and hand sanitizer, and attempt to social altitude when y'all can to avoid spreading the virus. It's also always a adept idea to bring a bottle of water.

During the Protest

No matter what cops might tell y'all, it's completely legal to film them in public. Filming the police is i of the few tools citizens have to forcefulness accountability on them. If it weren't for people filming police brutality on their cellphones, nosotros wouldn't have nigh and then much show of widespread systemic racism inside American police forces.

It'south skillful to share photos and videos from protests on social media, but you should also be mindful of the wishes of other protesters. While you're legally immune to movie anything in a public gathering, it's respectful to ask permission before taking photos of people'south faces.

If you're paying for enough mobile information, you may want to configure Google Photos to automatically upload all photos and videos you have to the cloud. This way if police confiscate or damage your phone during the protestation, you'll be able to log in to your burner Google account from another device to access your media later on. Be enlightened, however, that pictures in Google Photos are not encrypted, meaning Google volition exist able to provide them to authorities if subpoenaed.

If You Get Arrested

Fifty-fifty if you lot're peaceful and aren't breaking any laws, police might arrest yous at a protest. If you can tell that you lot're about to get arrested, and it'due south condom to do so, power off your phone. This makes it a lot harder for cops to become into your phone.

Law do not have the right to search your telephone without your consent unless they become a warrant. If an officer asks you to unlock your phone, or if they catch your phone from your hands while it's unlocked, tell them: "I practice not consent to a search of my phone. I want to talk to a lawyer." (It'southward OK if y'all don't have a lawyer yet, you should yet say this.) They may confiscate your phone and illegally search it anyway, just it's best to arrive clear at the moment that yous don't consent.

Information technology's also possible that cops might try to steal or suspension your telephone, especially if they noticed you filming them being violent. If any of this happens, at least it will just be your cheap burner telephone with minimal information on it rather than an expensive phone full of individual information most your life and your activism.