“The neighbors truck got busted in, the windows smashed cause he left his wallet on the seat.” My grandma said, showing me surveillance footage taken from two different neighborhood houses posted on a social media website. It was clearly able to show the person in action and taking a step back, here was a non-governmental, non-official neighborhood merely organizing on the premises of surveiling and reporting on their own situations.

A Police State, so deeply embedded, that citizens are effectively operating their own Surveillance Society despite being seniors with nothing better to do outside of keeping tabs. When we think of Cyberpunk Dystopias, I don’t think we envisioned grandparents collaborating on social media trading surveillance with one another outside of the purview of the State, but I guess there shouldn’t be any surprises with late-stage capitalism.

Seeing this being produced so casually with the most rudimentary of tech, I thought, how the fuck is insurrection conceivable under a surveillance state that most revolutionaries can simultaneously fathom and not? The few safe spaces that exist either do so with either the consent of the State or in an illegalist fashion, and are always utmost temporary fixtures. Shit, there are lists and in places like Chicago, (this one is known as the Strategic Subject List) up to 400,000 (or nearly 15% of Chicagoans) which analyzes them using risk-assessment scores with regards to crime. The list is quite literally larger than my hometown. 

Thinking about this, while reading Che’s Guerrilla Warfare (which is a fantastic tactical read through an insurrectionary lens with some critiques), and seeing how some tactics couldn’t fundamentally work in numerous “developed” nations, I’ve been jarring about what concepts work. We live in a time where the conceivable old tactics may have their place, but many of them are significantly hollowed out. Mass movements turn into datafarms for potential threats against the State, none of the largest unions have the infrastructure nor care to develop one for a general strike, and any concept of Party, even if its “third” perpetuates the myth of needing a State.

The fact that our biggest actions are only in opposition to policies implemented by the State rather than actions at the State is a massive signal that the left, in its current incarnation, is incapable of resisting Empire. The tactics of the old have their purposes, but new tactics have to be reforged in the fires of now. It is not enough to be invisible, hidden from society, but we must additionally become wraiths and poltergeists. We must be indistinguishable and immaterial, yet we must haunt tyranny and oppression in a way they know the actions against it are by the people, but the hands the propel them are invisible.

In what forms do these take as we barrel into a Cyberpunk Fascist Dystopia? It becomes more diverse than we can potentially fathom. From something as basic as private torrenting and liberating files from behind internet paywalls for total access (free textbooks you know) to developing Electro-Magnetic Pulse Devices and weaponizing magnets against the Surveillance State. This isn’t just about the hitech, but the low tech. In the Millennium Challenge 2002 war game, Lt. Gen Van Riper of the USMC used old, rudimentary methods of communication and low-tech strategies to successfully counter the high-end surveillance capabilities of the United States. We’re talking bicycle messengers and using flash lights to signal over a distance, even the missile implementation wasn’t based on precision strikes, but rather flooding sensors with overwhelming “dumb” missiles. Insurrection, ultimately, has to become more erratic and fluid to counter the monolithic structures of Empire. Everything and our participation in it must be subjected to an analysis as whether to perpetuate what has continually lost against Empire or been co-opted. The wastes of Empire are the fertile grounds for new concepts of resistance, not because we willingly embrace it as such, but because we are provided no other alternative.

 There was a point in our universal existence that we lost all opportunity for a better future. This is a statement of fact and a challenge to your conviction. Maybe it was the beginning of industrialization, maybe it was the beginning of agricultural societies, maybe it was the technological innovations of war, or maybe it was our collective incapability to stop climate change, but in any case, we’re afflicted with multiple terminal illnesses to which even if one miracle solved for one, the others would surely take us to our end. The powers that be gave us a fully loaded revolver for a game of Russian Roulette.

 The apocalypse isn’t the issue. In the way that death is inevitable, every indicator reveals that we will be the end of the mass extinctions we’ve perpetuated, and this doesn’t matter. I don’t mean this in the nihilistic sense. The value of our collective self interests are not contingent on existential threats or realities. If your ethical conclusions are shaken by the fact that none of us may exist any longer, it is both a question of your conclusions and your convictions. If you chose not to do good in the face of apocalypse, what substance is your “good” in any other case? A good action, committed in the absolute certainty of which you’ll receive no benefit, is evidence of conviction.

 So, the world is ending. Shall we stay idle as it does? Shall we stand aside? We lost, long before any of us had a say. We had as much say about our existence as we did about our individual birth. Which of us would’ve chosen to say yes if we had the option to be born? Despite this, I don’t think these are factors of importance. I’m rather hopeless and optimism seems like a sham, not only that, but even getting out of bed seems like a waste.. Yet there is not a single day I wouldn’t spend fighting for a world I thought we’d never have. The inevitable seeks to destroy us long before we’re buried and breathing itself becomes a continuous act of resistance. It is not enough for resistance to be inhaled and exhaled, however, my veins should bleed insurrection against the tyranny of fate dictated by those who came before.

 It is not enough to be caught between the superficial morality imposed upon us by every facet of society against the backdrop of an inevitable death that would deem us meaningless. We must resist all that came before, that is now, and that is inevitable. If we couldn’t break the chains that bind us, the next best thing would be to bleed in our struggle to break free from them.

Download Tor, intall Tor (What is Tor), then close this page, and reopen it in Tor. We’ll consider this the 0 step.

I’m not a tech person at all and learning how to safeguard myself techwise has been an adventure. Okay, scratch that, I’m a small-scale tech person. I know enough about hardware to build a decent rig and I can haphazardly navigate most OS’s. I don’t even know if I’m using proper terminology at times or if I’m bastardizing my way through, so let me be clear: In this, I’m going to give a short explanation of different ways to communicate securely. This is going to just be a limited, straight to the point explanation of stuff I’ve kinda snagged around google in my own adventure. Shall we?

1. Let’s say you want a secure OS to write and talk to folks on.

Look, most operating systems are secure as long as you keep them up to date and shit. Your average every day person isn’t going to break into your shit if you are sensible. This isn’t about that. This isn’t even necessarily about your rando malicious attack or anything. This is about you being concerned that the government might want to look at whatever it is you’re doing and you’re concerned about having a secure way to communicate digitally.

Before we continue, we’re going to transfer the line of philosophical thought presented in the Hagakure. Bushido is a way of dying and it was argued Samurai should live as tho one was dead, you should live like your entire life is compromised. Assume everything you’ve done up to now is known by someone, somewhere. Many of us average folk cannot comprehend the intelligence gathering capabilities of the system and what we think may protect us from the average, does, but doesn’t protect us against this cyber leviathan. This doesn’t mean you should be reckless, I’ve been reckless to extents of regret, but it means you need to take a greater step into being secure. Check yourself constantly, check how you troll, check everything you do. Modesty is a form of security. I don’t think my telling you this will reinforce that mindset, but here’s a video from Jacob Applebaum where he pretty thoroughly explains how we’re fucked and the ability of groups like the NSA to completely compromise us. It’s a long video if you decide to watch the whole thing (probably not necessary), but the means of which I’m explaining to you provide an opportunity for security, not full or absolute security, and these forms of security are not enough.

So what should we do? These answers will be scattered and piecemeal, but I’m doing my best to write this in an order that makes sense while being deprived of.. I dunno. I’m out of it.

Get a 2 USB disk (more than 4 gigs, get two if you’re using Mac or Windows) for like 11 bucks each that isn’t SanDisk, maybe like Samsung or something, and clear a day to start going to work. Right now, your best bet is downloading something like TAILS. The Amnesiac Incognito Live System. It’s an operating system that forces you behind Tor (nifty way to mask your Internet existence, you could just get a nice browser for your OS to do that, but we’re talking next level right). Not just that, it only exists in your RAM since its run off a USB, so it doesn’t leave traces like normal operating systems. It’s a clean OS every time you boot it and since its in a USB stick… you can use it on just about any laptop or desktop (save some stuff like Chromebooks, ugh fuck that struggle). Walk into a school library with a USB drive, restart it with the USB plugged in, boot it up so you can access the USB, and start TAILS for secured communications. Convenient as hell. Just keep the USB handy. Since it does wipe clean on every start though, it is a problem of wanting to store anything significant, and you can use it for a persistent drive to some extent, but that kinda dodges why this system is secure. It’s a constantly clean OS where your traffic is in the shadows. You could’ve read all that stuff on the website itself, but I’m writing it here because I’m trying to tell you this is a long process that can be more difficult than it seems. I was able to use a single USB and did it through Ubuntu, but many of ya’ll might be on Windows or Mac and that makes it a bit longer.

2. Emails are about the most secure method of communication when done properly.

Check out secure emails that use PGP encryption (what is it), which is perhaps the safest way to do it, and google around for how it works (here’s one example, but things like mailfence have their own built in way). It’s not entirely complicated. I’d recommend riseup, which unfortunately is invite only, but autistici.org could be good and mailfence is my preference for ease of use. Emails sent PGP behind Tor and any other safeguard you can imagine is about as secure as electronic communications can get. Unfortunately, email isn’t always a preferable format, and you still need to be wary about how you talk, what you send, etc.

3. Next level under email is instant messaging.

Here’s what I use. I use Pidgin Instant Messenger, I create an account that uses XMPP protocol, and I pull a server (check out this list, always better to have your own server though) that force Off-The-Record Messaging and doesn’t keep logs. When you setup the account, use a server with a .onion address, giving it an additional layer of protection. When your account starts up and its functioning, test it with a comrade, and make sure you’ve enabled verification between each other. What does this end up looking like? Well, buddy, if you’ve used AIM, imagine AIM except that your chats are only logged if the other person is online behind a layer of onion circuits with no personal information attached. Don’t even try to keep the login info or memorize it. The Calyx Institute has a great screenshot set of drections for setting this up.

To Conclude:

Nothing is entirely safe, nothing will ever fully protect you, but these tools are better than nothing. Next time, I’ll try to talk about mobile communications.