Friends involved in the #Portland #PortlandProtest , let’s take a moment to talk about DHS aircraft and cell phone tracking.

It’s not just about gathering evidence about who is protesting. It’s also contact tracing. (1/?)

The aircraft uses an internal faux cell tower that your phone will ping, telling them where you are.

They circle the whole city, not just downtown, so they can watch phones / people moving around and see who comes into contact with whom. (2/?)

This allows them to claim evidence of conspiracy if they find anything that looks like coordinated action. And it means they might track down innocent people and accuse them of thoughtcrime for being “associated with” people whose phones have been downtown. (3/?)

You have no obligation to help them with this.

Ideally leave your phone entirely at home. If you want to bring a phone use a burner. If you want to take pictures bring a camera.

Or, introduce noise. (4/?)

Remove your SIM before going downtown.

Or leave it in, give it to someone, and send them on a tour of the city.

It’s great to be photographed at places your phone definitely wasn’t.

In short, be aware that this can follow you home and be smart. Cheers! (5/5)