The People Are Kings
And Don’t Give These Thugs Your Data
This is what we needed.
I marched Saturday in the New York City “No Kings Day” parade. I call it a parade, not a protest, because it had a joyful, positive vibe, like a celebration rather than a regret. It didn’t feel like previous waves of protests, which were against things. The 2020 George Floyd protests were against something – a good thing, namely stopping police brutality. Anti Trump demonstrations were the definition of anti: a negative target we could agree to blame and hate.
No Kings felt different. Despite the name—apparently we are against kings—it was profoundly positive. It was for things: democracy, human rights, the constitution, America and the American flag, peace and non-violence, equality, education, science, facts, civil society, and civil behavior.
That’s according to the signs in the crowd. New York brought its best tradition of graphic design to the streets, a true sea of creativity marching from Bryant Park at 42nd St. down to the Flatiron building at 21st. Fifth Avenue was packed, probably tens of thousands of people, all snaking very, very slowly southward. The mood was joyous, despite a heavy rain. That rain smeared some signs, but I have to recognize the visual professionalism of this city, as the great majority of signs were not just beautifully illustrated or filled with cosmic wisdom, but also waterproofed using no-run inks, professional printing techniques, perfectionist use of clear packing tape, and plastic bags fitted tighter than runway dresses. Take that, Donald: we’re funny AND prepared.
So it was good to take action. But there’s one action I didn’t take. I didn’t take a single picture.
That was deliberate. We have to take seriously the issues around tracking software, and security in both our communications and persons.
I have covered a lot of protests, and even when I’m not expecting trouble, I bring a wet bandanna to wipe my eyes (or breathe through) in case of tear gas. But before this protest, I disabled the biometrics on my phone.
Turning off facial recognition or thumb scanning prevents police from accessing your phone. They are now legally allowed—without a search warrant, and without charging you with any crime—to forcibly use your fingertips or face to unlock your phone. Then they can read all your texts, scan your photos, and even copy the entire contents for random investigation later. But they cannot force you to tell them your password or code without a warrant.
You probably think these security measures don’t apply to you. You aren't a criminal. You aren’t a troublemaker. You aren’t violent. There is no reason for the police to gas you, or seize you and unlock your phone.
Think again. It isn’t necessary to be any of those things to have your digital trail stripped and spied on. Every second you carry your phone, you leave a trail of breadcrumbs, revealing time, place, who you were with, what you did there. Every photo uploaded to social media is automatically “scraped” by AI facial recognition software, then networked against all the info in everyone else’s protest photos. Many of these techniques were developed in Israel, to surveil and control Palestinians. Now Palantir, the world’s most powerful spyware company, is under contract to the Department of Defense, and assuming broad new powers to spy on the “enemies” and “scum” designated by Donald Trump. A 21-year old intern from Palantir was just allowed to download the entire data profile of all Social Security recipients. Our data lives matter.
Already, about 200 private companies mine and analyze the same sea of data for local police departments, who also use their own Stingray cell phone spoofers, and other eavesdropping technologies. There was one single drone flying over the New York march, which people kept telling me was a news camera. No. The NYPD flies drones over protests, using AI facial recognition to catalog the entire crowd, note all license plates, and even read (and preserve) the contents of signs. They can do this live, during the protests. Houston police use a huge military-style drone flying at 20,000 feet to do this—you can’t even see it is there, and yet they are face-matching you.
(See the Wired magazine special report linked below.)
The police don’t need to stop and frisk you to search your pockets. You are giving them the contents all day every day. The less you are online during protests, the less they can mine that data.
I turned my phone off for large parts of the No Kings march. At other times, I kept it on airplane mode, so I could use a previously downloaded Google map of Manhattan. When I had to communicate, I turned everything on. It’s not possible to abandon our devices completely, but start working on your digital hygiene. They want you to share a constant stream of data. Don’t.
CITATIONS
New York magazine: https://www.thecut.com/article/photos-no-kings-day-protest-new-york-city.html
Wired guide: