The team has developed a series of very useful security sheets for various purposes: securing your I-phone, your Android, your identity, etc.
These resources are very simple, clear and user-friendly. You can access them HERE
Whether it’s at a protest, public event, or at an established community space, it’s always important to ensure that every one, regardless of background, is free to engage with your community. When it comes to the LGBTQ community safe spaces are incredibly important, especially for young people and minorities that may face widespread discrimination within mainstream society.
Safer spaces policies are the rules by which a community agrees to operate. They help make sure that marginalised individuals are free to be themselves, and help prevent some of the problems common in mainstream society (such as racism, sexism or transphobia) from becoming a part of the community. In preparation for IDAHOT 2016 we’re sharing a few short tips that you should know before creating an official safer spaces policy for your event or community space.
Before starting to create a safer spaces policy it’s good to know which members of your community would benefit most from it. Within LGBTQ circles women, trans and non-binary people, and people with disabilities are often marginalised and excluded from the conversation more than other groups. (In Western countries also people of colour face similar issues).
A safer spaces policy should exist to ensure that those voices within your community can still thrive and contribute. Looking at your community and understanding who would benefit is the best way to start making a policy that tackles these important issues.
Before even starting a policy it’s also important to understand the problems that are common. Do men dominate conversations and action? Do people with disabilities struggle to engage? Is the language you use accessible and easy for everyone?
Look at some of the common problems your community faces, both in mainstream society and in your own spaces, and attempt to identity some ways in which they could be avoided. Every community in every country is different, so there is never a one-size-fits-all solution to these issues.
Rather than making a set of rules that bans some people from acting in certain ways it’s always much more useful to promote cooperation instead. If one group, for example, tends to talk while another listens then you should try to promote behaviour in which these roles are reversed. You should always try to encourage others to voluntarily give up their typical role rather than try to take it away from them.
By making everyone aware of their own behaviour, and how it effects others, you can also foster cooperation that can be hugely powerful in mainstream society too.
In a similar way, it’s also important to remember that your policy does not help to further alienate certain people from the community, even if they do typically hold a position of power within it. Bad safer spaces policies from the past typically relied on rules that excluded those individuals from participating instead.
Although it may seem like this is an easy way of addressing power imbalances, it often only helps to exclude individuals from your community entirely. Remember that the primary aim should be to prevent issues common in the mainstream and to build a community that is entirely inclusive in ways that mainstream society is not.
An important part of this effort is not making assumptions about anyone’s background or identity. Although it can be easier to generalize this can lead to many problems, which within the LGBTQ community should always be avoided.
If you’re writing the policy on your own, or as part of a small team, make sure you get feedback from the rest of the community. If a rule or suggestion isn’t working you might want to remove it. If something is missing you might want to add it.
It’s difficult sometimes to address the needs of everyone on your own, which is why it’s important to take feedback and criticisms from those individuals themselves. Encourage your community to share input on their own needs and wishes, and try whenever possible to include these within your policy.
Sometimes a community will be forced to exclude individuals or groups that make it difficult or impossible to operate. If someone breaks your rules, either on purpose or through continued ignorance, then you may wish to exclude them from your space. In these cases it’s important to know where you stand legally. Every country will have different laws around removing someone from a property or event, so make sure you check in advance to know where you stand in case a worst-case scenario occurs.
In some cases legal standards will make it easier to enforce the rules you’ve set. In some countries these laws may make it difficult to operate freely. It’s always important to make sure your policy operates within legal parameters, so that everyone within the community is safe from further issues.
Publish your policy online and in-person whenever possible. If you are in a shared or public space make sure you have physical copies, or a display, at entrances and in key areas. This will ensure that everyone understands the policy and can operate by its standards.
At the same time make sure people know how, and to whom, to give feedback. The policy should also make it clear where to report other concerns, and what to do in certain situations.
A policy is only useful if it’s known and agreed upon!
Although every safe spaces policy is different a lot of them follow similar lines. If you’re still unsure on what to include then try researching groups in your area that might have their own policies. It’s also important to learn from the mistakes of others that you might have encountered, so you ensure you don’t repeat them!
Safer spaces policies fro several groups can easily be found online in many cases. Using these as a template or jumping off point is a good way to start. However, make sure not to simply copy-and-paste the policy of another community, as your own issues may not be fully addressed within!
Make sure to check out our website in the next few days for more information and ideas for action. For updates, news and more also make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Whether it’s at a protest, public event, or at an established community space, it’s always important to ensure that every one, regardless of background, is free to engage with your community. When it comes to the LGBTQ community safe spaces are incredibly important, especially for young people and minorities that may face widespread discrimination within mainstream society.
Safer spaces policies are the rules by which a community agrees to operate. They help make sure that marginalised individuals are free to be themselves, and help prevent some of the problems common in mainstream society (such as racism, sexism or transphobia) from becoming a part of the community. In preparation for IDAHOT 2016 we’re sharing a few short tips that you should know before creating an official safer spaces policy for your event or community space.
Before starting to create a safer spaces policy it’s good to know which members of your community would benefit most from it. Within LGBTQ circles women, trans and non-binary people, and people with disabilities are often marginalised and excluded from the conversation more than other groups. (In Western countries also people of colour face similar issues).
A safer spaces policy should exist to ensure that those voices within your community can still thrive and contribute. Looking at your community and understanding who would benefit is the best way to start making a policy that tackles these important issues.
Before even starting a policy it’s also important to understand the problems that are common. Do men dominate conversations and action? Do people with disabilities struggle to engage? Is the language you use accessible and easy for everyone?
Look at some of the common problems your community faces, both in mainstream society and in your own spaces, and attempt to identity some ways in which they could be avoided. Every community in every country is different, so there is never a one-size-fits-all solution to these issues.
Rather than making a set of rules that bans some people from acting in certain ways it’s always much more useful to promote cooperation instead. If one group, for example, tends to talk while another listens then you should try to promote behaviour in which these roles are reversed. You should always try to encourage others to voluntarily give up their typical role rather than try to take it away from them.
By making everyone aware of their own behaviour, and how it effects others, you can also foster cooperation that can be hugely powerful in mainstream society too.
In a similar way, it’s also important to remember that your policy does not help to further alienate certain people from the community, even if they do typically hold a position of power within it. Bad safer spaces policies from the past typically relied on rules that excluded those individuals from participating instead.
Although it may seem like this is an easy way of addressing power imbalances, it often only helps to exclude individuals from your community entirely. Remember that the primary aim should be to prevent issues common in the mainstream and to build a community that is entirely inclusive in ways that mainstream society is not.
An important part of this effort is not making assumptions about anyone’s background or identity. Although it can be easier to generalize this can lead to many problems, which within the LGBTQ community should always be avoided.
If you’re writing the policy on your own, or as part of a small team, make sure you get feedback from the rest of the community. If a rule or suggestion isn’t working you might want to remove it. If something is missing you might want to add it.
It’s difficult sometimes to address the needs of everyone on your own, which is why it’s important to take feedback and criticisms from those individuals themselves. Encourage your community to share input on their own needs and wishes, and try whenever possible to include these within your policy.
Sometimes a community will be forced to exclude individuals or groups that make it difficult or impossible to operate. If someone breaks your rules, either on purpose or through continued ignorance, then you may wish to exclude them from your space. In these cases it’s important to know where you stand legally. Every country will have different laws around removing someone from a property or event, so make sure you check in advance to know where you stand in case a worst-case scenario occurs.
In some cases legal standards will make it easier to enforce the rules you’ve set. In some countries these laws may make it difficult to operate freely. It’s always important to make sure your policy operates within legal parameters, so that everyone within the community is safe from further issues.
Publish your policy online and in-person whenever possible. If you are in a shared or public space make sure you have physical copies, or a display, at entrances and in key areas. This will ensure that everyone understands the policy and can operate by its standards.
At the same time make sure people know how, and to whom, to give feedback. The policy should also make it clear where to report other concerns, and what to do in certain situations.
A policy is only useful if it’s known and agreed upon!
Although every safe spaces policy is different a lot of them follow similar lines. If you’re still unsure on what to include then try researching groups in your area that might have their own policies. It’s also important to learn from the mistakes of others that you might have encountered, so you ensure you don’t repeat them!
Safer spaces policies fro several groups can easily be found online in many cases. Using these as a template or jumping off point is a good way to start. However, make sure not to simply copy-and-paste the policy of another community, as your own issues may not be fully addressed within!
Make sure to check out our website in the next few days for more information and ideas for action. For updates, news and more also make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
In order to stay safe online in both a personal and professional capacity, we need to understand, identify, and assess our digital security needs and risks. Through this process, you will learn how to assess and maintain your digital security, think through the differences and similarities of “security” and “digital security”, and identify threats, capacities and vulnerabilities.
For a comprehensive guide on how to assess your digital security risk, check out this great “Security-in-a-box: Tools and Tactics for Digital Security” done in collaboration with tactical tech and human rights defenders in the MENA region for the LGBTI community in Sub-Saharan Africa.
These days, online security is as essential as the basic security measures you would take for yourself and your material possessions in your daily life. With reports of government surveillance on activists, academics, and civilians on the rise, taking security precautions to assure you and your data are safe online is a necessary step. Here are our five must-do tips on how to maintain data security online and resources for why online safety and digital freedom are, in fact, an LGBT matter.
Due to hacking, identity theft, data leaking, and other online security risks; most big online companies have adopted heightened security measures with a two-step verification policy. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and Evernote each have an option for two-step verification to ensure your accounts are only accessed by you. This requires users to have a security code which is usually automatically generated and sent via text to the users phone as well as enter their password to access their information.
Here’s how to set each one of them up:
*Be wary of your “location settings” and “app access” (also located in your general settings and your app settings) on all of these social media sites.
5. Use Alternative Chatting Sites to Communicate and Organize*
In the 21st Century, most of our communication and organization is done online. When the Arab Spring took place in Tunisia and Egypt, most organization and coordination for the protests took place on Facebook groups and chats as well as Twitter. However, these are not the safest modes of communication to use as these sites are increasingly cooperating with governments to share information when requested. In order for you to organize and communicate openly without the fear that your conversation is being logged or stored somewhere.
Here are some alternative chatting sites / apps you can use to make sure your information is as secure as you can possibly make it:
Cryptocat is a fun, accessible app for having encrypted chat with your friends, right in your browser and mobile phone. Everything is encrypted before it leaves your computer. Even the Cryptocat network itself can’t read your messages. Cryptocat is open source, free software, developed by encryption professionals to make privacy accessible to everyone.
“Off-the-Record” Software can be added to free open-source instant messaging platforms like Pidgin or Adium. On these platforms, you’re able to organize and manage different instant messaging accounts on one interface. When you then install OTR, your chats are encrypted and authenticated, so you can rest assured you’re talking to a friend.
ChatSecure: Encrypted Messages on iOS and Android. ChatSecure is a free and open source messaging app that features OTR encryption over XMPP. You can connect to your existing accounts on Facebook or Google, create new accounts on public XMPP servers(including via Tor), or even connect to your own server for extra security.
All of the above chat software and apps require an Internet connection provided by either Wifi or your mobile carrier. As we witnessed with the Arab Spring and other moments of national political tension, governments can switch off or limit connectivity in public spaces to make communications about public actions, safety protocols, and other information between activists and citizens even harder to share to the widespread audiences that social media platforms provide. This is where FireChat comes in.
FireChat is the messaging app that works when and where others cannot. FireChat uses peer-to-peer mesh networking technology to connect people and mobile devices even when no Internet connection or mobile data service is available. FireChat has been among the top 10 social networking applications in 124 countries. From Burning Man to Taiwan, HongKong, Delhi, Moscow, Manila, Paris, Srinagar, Kuala Lumpur and Austin, pro-democracy protesters, disaster relief organizations, leaders, and artists are choosing FireChat to stay connected to their friends and communities.
*Always check what each service provides, what information – if any – is stored, and if your traffic is encrypted.
Further Reading
Egypt jails eight men after ‘gay marriage’ ceremony on Nile
Russia bans five online LGBT youth groups under anti-gay law
‘Perfect Surveillance,’ Says Edward Snowden, Could Have Snuffed Out the LGBT Movement. He’s Right.
What is an IP address?
If you were to send a letter to a friend of yours through the mail, you would need to write their address on the envelope for it to reach them. Similarly, each computer has its own IP address which is the machine’s unique identifier when sending data out to other computers on a network.
Generally, most networks and all computers on the internet use a TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) as a standard communication language or protocol over a network. Every computer’s unique identifier is located within the TCP/IP protocol.
The standard IP addresses come in two formats. The first – that all computer with an IP address currently use – is the IPv4 (IP version 4) address which is made up of 32 binary bits that creates a unique code for each device such as 96.35.982.692
The IPv6 (IP version 6) address uses 128 binary bits. IPv6 addresses are denoted by eight groups of hexadecimal quartets separated by colons in between them.
Here is an example of a valid IPv6 address: 2001:cdba:0000:0000:0000:0000:3257:9652
How can I keep my IP address hidden?
Whether you are researching sensitive information, organizing with other activists, or just prefer to keep a low profile online there are ways to mask your IP address from prying eyes.
A proxy server is a server that acts as the ‘middle person’ for requests between an individual and the resources on the intended server which is being accessed. As well as masking your IP address, using a proxy allows you to bypass restrictions to websites. In short, once you have connected to a proxy server, you are “outside” of your network and any ‘traffic’ or data being viewed or uploaded/downloaded appears to be coming from the proxy server rather than from your direct network.
Each proxy server offers different services and it is well worth researching which one may be right for your needs. Proxy.org offers a comprehensive and regularly updated web proxy list of the proxy servers out there that you can use.
What is VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (commonly referred to as VPN) is a “network technology that creates a secure network connection over a public network such as the internet or a private network owned by a service provider.” Basically, a VPN is a group of computers that network ‘privately’ together over the internet – a ‘public’ network. VPN is an important tool while browsing securely online as it is a method for securing and encrypting communications when on an untrusted public network. While you may think that this is an excessive step to take while online, with increasing government surveillance and intrusion into individual’s private information, it is a vital technology to ensure your security while researching, organizing campaigns, uploading/downloading content, or simply just browsing online.
Whether you want to access sensitive information remotely, websites/movies/files that are blocked in the country you reside in, research controversial subjects, or just don’t want any record of your online presence – VPN is the way to go.
The most important thing for you to remember is that using a Virtual Private Network secures your computer’s internet connection. This guarantees that all of the data you’re sending and receiving is encrypted and secure from prying eyes.
Check out this video to better understand VPN – What is it? How does it work?
Which VPNs are the Best?
With so many sites on the internet, it’s hard to know which VPNs are the best. Here are some reliable VPN service providers that can help you on your way to securing and encrypting your data online.
Safety and Security Online
Browsing and Communicating Securely Online
When you’re signing into any website, always make sure to check that you’re URL begins with https:// (and not just http://). This signals that your website connection is secure, encrypted, and less prone to unwanted snooping, tampering, or identity theft online.
However, while many websites are starting to provide https:// as a standard service, there are still large amounts of websites that do not automatically load through a secure connection. This means that to ensure you are entering each and every website securely, you would have to check your URL before and after it’s loaded and even then, some websites may not load in https:// mode. The Tor Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation collaborated to provide a solution to this by creating HTTPS Everywhere, which “is a Firefox, Chrome, and Opera extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.”
As activists, campaigners, and human rights defenders, our online privacy and anonymity is vital to staying safe. Tor is a free software and open network that bounces your communications around distributed networks which prevents anyone monitoring your online activities to learn about sites you are using, your browsing history or location.
Tor has several projects worth looking into whether or not you are concerned with your online safety (although with reports of governments worldwide snooping on citizens, you should be!) including Tor Browser (available for windows, Mac OSX, and Linux) for your computer and Orbot for Android phones.
Riseup provides online communication tools for people and groups working on liberatory social change. They are a project working to create democratic alternatives and practice self-determination by controlling their own secure means of communications. Riseup provides secure and private email accounts, mailing lists, and has even started providing new services such as VPN and chat.
Chatting
Chatting and sharing information online is never 100% secure BUT there are applications, browser extensions, and other ways to keep yourself as safe as possible while organizing your campaigns, taking part in public actions, or connecting with other activists online. Here are a few that may just help alleviate your security concerns:
Cryptocat is a fun, accessible app for having encrypted chat with your friends, right in your browser and mobile phone. Everything is encrypted before it leaves your computer. Even the Cryptocat network itself can’t read your messages. Cryptocat is open source, free software, developed by encryption professionals to make privacy accessible to everyone.
“Off-the-Record” Software can be added to free open-source instant messaging platforms like Pidgin or Adium. On these platforms, you’re able to organize and manage different instant messaging accounts on one interface. When you then install OTR, your chats are encrypted and authenticated, so you can rest assured you’re talking to a friend.
ChatSecure: Encrypted Messages on iOS and Android. ChatSecure is a free and open source messaging app that features OTR encryption over XMPP. You can connect to your existing accounts on Facebook or Google, create new accounts on public XMPP servers(including via Tor), or even connect to your own server for extra security.
All of the above chat software and apps require an Internet connection provided by either Wifi or your mobile carrier. As we witnessed with the Arab Spring and other moments of national political tension, governments can switch off or limit connectivity in public spaces to make communications about public actions, safety protocols, and other information between activists and citizens even harder to share to the widespread audiences that social media platforms provide. This is where FireChat comes in.
FireChat is the messaging app that works when and where others cannot. FireChat uses peer-to-peer mesh networking technology to connect people and mobile devices even when no Internet connection or mobile data service is available. FireChat has been among the top 10 social networking applications in 124 countries. From Burning Man to Taiwan, HongKong, Delhi, Moscow, Manila, Paris, Srinagar, Kuala Lumpur and Austin, pro-democracy protesters, disaster relief organizations, leaders, and artists are choosing FireChat to stay connected to their friends and communities.
