I'm not american. Why not bring your phone? Around here as long as you have a legion of people pointing cameras at cops they'll not outright beat you senseless since it'll be impossible to lie about some bullshit justification about how you did something first.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Why not bring your phone?

Your SIM/IMEI are tied to your ID. The police can visit you at home later. Details depend on the country.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Flight mode?

[–] [email protected] 42 points 5 months ago

Because they can use the phone company records to say "We think you were here when this "violent riot" happened (actually just a protest that police started shooting at protestors because they know they'll get away with it), you're arrested". And cops don't care if you're recording, they'll either break your phone or shoot you anyway and then claim it was self defense.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 5 months ago (2 children)

One, it'll get smashed anyway. Two, if you manage to get away, they'll work with your provider or location based apps to prove you were there and arrest you. Or, force you to unlock it so they can arrest your contacts. Filming them barely helps, there's so many videos of cops beating the shit out of people with no justification, who have been identified and never faced any repercussions

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Further, cops have learned to just play copyrighted music (say the Frozen soundtrack) when they see they are being recorded, that way if people upload it to the internet, they can rest easy that Disney will hit that video with a copyright strike and the video will be taken down before anyone can see it.

Thankfully for protestors, audio editing exists, and certain AI tools have become very good at stripping certain audio from videos while keeping relevant audio. Leave it to cops to choose a "brute force" solution every time when finesse is all you really need to bypass their brute force.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 months ago

cops have learned to just play copyrighted music (say the Frozen soundtrack)

I hope they've secured the proper licenses for a public performance of that music.

[–] Ookami38 3 points 5 months ago

Funny, that was always my plan if I ever got hounded by paparazzi or journalists outside my house. Ear pro for me, a speaker blasting tunes, and a bullhorn loud enough to cause physical pain for entry/exit.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

You. Cannot. Be. Forced. To. Unlock. A. Phone. With. A. Password.

(In the United States)

If you are caught with your phone in a bad situation, fight to manage to get it to shut down. Android will be stuck in a locked out state where biometrics are disabled. Im sure iphones can do something like that but rethink bringing your stupid iphone to a protest. Ask for a lawyer. Do not talk, do not answer questions, do not say anything else.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You don't even need to shut it down, newer Android phones (at least on LineageOS) have lockdown mode in the power menu.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Also on iPhone, you can just hold down buttons to trigger power down menu which also disables Touch/Face ID.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Thank you, I didn't think of that!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago

Phones are easily tracked, and police generally can get that info. As for the beatings, in the US police commonly aren't held responsible even when they've clearly broken the law. Often, they aren't even charged.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago

Cell phones can be later used to establish who was there/identify people.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

They can use phones to track you. I guess if you're the one who is planning on throwing bricks then don't bring it but if you're just a warm body to fill the crowd a phone is fine since it'll also prove your innocene if you record your whole stay there.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

If you do that for video/photo evidence, make sure you are actively synching with your cloud. If you are streaming, make sure recording is also enabled.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Lots of reasons, mostly this

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Tracking via bluetooth, wifi, cell signals, nfc, etc. Does one trust airplane mode?
Seizure of the device if one is arrested. There is legal debate about what methods law enforcement can use to get into the phone. One is exposing both whatever pictures and video was made at the protest but everything else going on in one's life too.
If one has a unique case or model, one can be doxxed.

Action cameras are cheap, durable, and many come without any radios that can be used to track someone. They all look the same. Using a brand new sd card means that the only data on there is the pictures/video taken at the protest. The major downside is that if they are seized, they are an open book for law enforcement since they are unencrypted. If the sd card is taken or destroyed then one loses any evidence along with it.