In the wake of the 2024 election in the U.S., many people are concerned about their digital privacy. EFF has decades of experience in providing digital privacy and security resources. Here are the top ten resources that we think are most useful right now 🧵 (1/13)
Our Surveillance Self-Defense guides are a great place to start your journey of securing yourself against digital threats. We know that it can be a bit overwhelming, so we recommend starting with our guide on making a security plan so you can familiarize yourself with the basics and decide on your specific needs. https://ssd.eff.org/ (2/13)
If you are creating your security plan for the first time, it’s helpful to know which technologies might realistically be used to spy on you. Our Street-Level Surveillance team has spent years studying the technologies that law enforcement uses and has made this handy website where you can find information about technologies including drones, face recognition, license plate readers, stingrays, and more. https://sls.eff.org/ (3/13)
Once you have learned about the different types of surveillance technologies police can acquire from our Street-Level surveillance guides, you might want to know which technologies your local police has already bought. https://atlasofsurveillance.org/ (4/13)
We expect to see an increase in doxxing and harassment of vulnerable populations by vigilantes, emboldened by the incoming administration’s threatened policies. This guide is our thinking around the precautions you may want to take if you are likely to be doxxed and how to minimize the harm if you’ve been doxxed already. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/13/doxxing-tips-protect-yourself-online-how-minimize-harm (5/13)
For those who are already comfortable with Surveillance Self-Defense, you may be receiving questions from your family, friends, or community about what to do now. The Security Education Companion has everything you need to get started putting together a training plan for your community, from recommended lesson plans and materials to guides on effective teaching. https://www.securityeducationcompanion.org/ (8/13)
One police surveillance technology we are especially concerned about is location tracking services. These are data brokers that get your phone's location, usually through the same invasive ad networks that are baked into almost every app, and sell that information to law enforcement. This blog post goes into more detail on the problem and provides a guide on how to protect yourself and keep your location private. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/11/creators-police-location-tracking-tool-arent-vetting-buyers-heres-how-protect (9/13)
Deleting your period tracking app may feel like an effective countermeasure in a world where seeking abortion care is increasingly risky and criminalized, but it’s not advice that is grounded in the reality of the ways in which governments and law enforcement currently gather evidence against people who are prosecuted for their pregnancy outcomes. This blog post provides some more effective ways of protecting your privacy and sensitive information. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/should-you-really-delete-your-period-tracking-app (10/13)
People are always asking us to give them a recommendation for the best end-to-end encrypted messaging app. Unfortunately, this is asking for a simple answer to an extremely nuanced question. Since we wrote this in 2018, some companies have come and gone, but our thinking on this topic hasn’t changed much. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/why-we-cant-give-you-recommendation (11/13)
Our friends at the Digital Defense Fund have put together an excellent collection of guides aimed at particularly vulnerable people who are thinking about digital security for the first time. https://digitaldefensefund.org/learn (12/13)
@eff (I miss Jim Tyre.) Whoever wrote this nonsense, the pivotal word is "currently." The #EFF is supposed to look forward to future potential abuses, not just what the bad guys are "currently" doing. For shame.