Where do you start?
Much more to come.
0. Study up on Security Culture & make sure you have tech-savvy people that can help your community to implement safer digital practices.
Stay updated & informed. Any resources we consider to be reliable today can be compromised tomorrow. Plan Accordingly.
If you feel that you and the people in your community might be at risk – targeted by extremist groups, local or federal governments, corporations owned & operated by power mad CEOs – you’re probably thinking it’s time to learn how to be safe about your online presence, phones, computers, smart TVs, & home security systems.
It can be really difficult to know where to start. Because of this we’ll be producing a series of detailed how-to videos, providing a ton of resources, starting from a foundation of Security Culture, helping you to understand the changes you & your community can make to limit certain risks.
What is Security Culture? We will cover this in-depth in interviews and informational videos, but Security Culture is a set of customs shared by at-risk communities, designed to minimize risk.
Journalists, Educators, Healthcare Workers, Members of Labor Unions, Ethnic Minorities, Queer/Trans/Non-Binary people, and Activists are all at risk of increased surveillance and targeting by fascist organizations.
If you are tech-savvy, people are going to need your help with these things. Be patient.
Of course, Hard Left News and this channel are community supported. If these resources are important to you, please subscribe, share, and consider donating.
What is Security Culture? A Guide to Staying Safe – Sprout Distro Zines
https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/security/what-is-security-culture-a-guide-to-staying-safe
Towards a Collective Security Culture – CrimethInc. – https://crimethinc.com/2009/06/25/towards-a-collective-security-culture
Threat Modeling – https://www.privacyguides.org/en/basics/threat-modeling/
Comprehensive Privacy Tool Recommendations – Privacy Guide – https://www.privacyguides.org/en/tools/
Your online presence & device usage pose certain security risks. What can you do about it?
First, Determine Your Risk Profile, or Threat Model. Identify what you need to protect, take inventory of behaviors & threats, create a Security/Safety Plan and stick to it. Understanding that you can’t protect against all risks, that things change without notice, your day to day behaviors – online and in person – should reflect that.
1. Research & Understand who & what puts you & your community at risk. Who do you communicate with? How & when do you communicate?
2. List your Devices, Tools, & Activities. Take a look at the programs & apps you use. What purpose it serves? What information does it gather? Does that pose a privacy/security risk?
3. Safety Plan. What changes you & your community need to make. What work or communication needs to be performed using phones & computers? What Programs & Apps do you really need?
4. Stay Disciplined. You and your community are making these changes for a reason.
What changes you need to make depends on how at-risk you are and when.
What are the most important changes to make first?
– Devices – Secure Access & Use
– Platforms – Open Source Entertainment & Productivity Options
– Software > Apps/Operating Systems > Who is in Control?
1. Stay Updated. Keep all of your operating systems & apps updated. We also mean that you & your community need to stay updated & informed. Any reliable, vetted resources can be compromised tomorrow. For instance, for ages Mozilla had been a trusted browser and Proton was trusted for email & VPN. Now we’re not so sure, so we avoid products made by these companies. Stay informed.
2. Phone Carriers. Understand that for well over a decade cell phone carriers have had a bad habit of handing over access to your calls, texts, and location data, even without a warrant. If you think that is a real concern, leave your phone at home.
3. Texting & Voice Calls. Always use Signal for end to end encrypted texting, voice and video calls. They even have a desktop App that can be setup on nearly any system.
4. Passwords & Logins. Use KeePass as a Password Manager. Stop using FaceBook or Google to login to other websites. Change that to password access. Any passwords saved in corporate browsers need to be changed. Change your passwords at least every couple months.
5. Email. We recommend people to switch to Mailfence, Tuta, Disroot, or RiseUp. We encourage folks to learn how and when email is encrypted, so they can understand that for more sensitive communications using Signal might be a better choice.
6. VPNs. Use a reliable VPN whose company isn’t based in the US. We recommend Mullvad, Wireguard, or IVPN.
7. Browsers. We recommend Vivaldi or Tor Browser. Stay away from Chrome, Safari, Edge, & Firefox.
8. Search Engines. We recommend using Startpage or DuckDuckGo as your default search engine.
9. Navigation. OpenStreetMap and apps that utilize that system.
10. Social Media. The social media platforms we do recommend are Mastodon, Pixelfed, PeerTube, Diaspora*, and at least for now,Bluesky. We encourage people to try to leave the primary social media platforms such as FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc. If you aren’t able to whether that’s because of work or community, we do encourage people to delete the social media apps on their phones and try to exclusively access these platforms using a safe browser.
11. Cloud Storage. Understand that Cloud storage means your files, your private information, is being stored on someone else’s computer. Whether it’s iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, or the numerous other options, should be treated as security risks. We recommend setting up a private encrypted server using Wireguard.
12. Productivity. From shared documents to calendars, notes, and photos: There are several open source, community developed productivity-based software options with great security that we will link to in the description and on our website.
13. AI & Tech Monopolies. The bigger names in Tech, as well as the small companies and governments that work with them, have become serious risks to the safety of most private citizens. And that’s regardless of political leanings, nationality, ethnicity, gender, or orientation. Any software owned and operated by Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, OpenAI, are considered very high risk. All of these companies have been cooperating with law enforcement, providing surveillance support for the United States, it’s allies & adversaries, for ages. In recent years they have shown they are committed to a surveillance state, for a multitude of bizarre and fascistic reasons. We urge everyone to avoid using products made by companies with any serious emphasis on Generative AI.
Curtis Yarvin
The Reactionary Prophet of Silicon Valley
Roundup: Who helped Elon Musk buy Twitter?
https://www.disconnect.blog/p/roundup-who-helped-elon-musk-buy-twitter
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel Embodies Silicon Valley’s Conservative Past and Dystopian Future
https://jacobin.com/2021/10/peter-thiel-silicon-valley-tech-right-wing-libertarian-military
Trump Ally Peter Thiel’s Op-Ed Turns Heads for Being ‘Beyond Nuts’
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-ally-peter-thiels-op-ed-turns-heads-for-being-beyond-nuts
Marc Andreesen
Marc Andreessen Manifesto Says AI Regulation “Is a Form of Murder”
https://www.404media.co/marc-andreesen-manifesto-says-ai-regulation-is-a-form-of-murder
The Forgotten Story of How Conservatives Shaped the Internet
Sam Altman
OpenAI Announces Sam Altman Is Returning as CEO With a ‘New Board’
https://www.404media.co/openai-announces-sam-altman-is-coming-back-and-theres-a-new-board
Sam Altman doesn’t care about you
https://www.disconnect.blog/p/sam-altman-doesnt-care-about-you
How Does OpenAI Survive?
AI, Eugenics, & Fascism
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence
14. Operating Systems. Windows, Apple, and Android Operating Systems pose significant serious security risks, especially with AI integration. Consider installing Linux Mint or Debian on your computers. * If your community is at high-risk for targeting, we recommend using a LIVE, secure OS like Tails.
- For Android Phones there are non-Google OS options such as Graphene, PostMarket, Lineage, Calyx, /e/OS, and Tizen. There are no safe open source Operating Systems for iPhones yet.
15. LinuxOS. We’ll link to a resources that allow you to test drive a variety of Linux Operating Systems on you computer before you install them. By setting your system up to dual boot you can keep Windows or macOS on your computer if you need access to certain software.
- Running a Linux distribution on your computer or phone means you aren’t using a corporate operating system with built-in surveillance vulnerabilities. If your community is at high-risk for targeting, we recommend using a LIVE, secure OS like Tails.
16. Smart TVs double as surveillance devices. For those Smart TVs that don’t have open source options available, disconnect them from the internet, connect them to your computer and use them as a monitor for a more secured device.
17. Home Security Systems are meant to be surveillance devices. A lot of the more common systems, can be reprogrammed with open source software, taken off corporate networks, so they can be controlled by you and your household.
If we haven’t produced our own resources on something we mention here, we will link to any instructional videos, PDFs, news articles, and other information to help you stay informed. Coming soon will be a series on Security Culture, Digital Security, How to install new operating systems on your computers, smart devices, home security systems, a Private Server running Wireguard, a Peertube server, and more.
Hard Left News and this channel are community supported. If these resources are important to you, please subscribe, share, and consider donating.
We’ve all taken for granted the convenience of a lot of this technology. In doing so, we have became the products for these companies. This has put us all at great risk.
Build Community. Stay informed. Stay Safe.
Recommended Tools & Apps
Messaging – Calls & Texts
Signal – https://signal.org
- How to Use Signal – https://ssd.eff.org/module/nasil-yapilir-signal-i-kullanma
Password Manager
KeePass – https://keepass.info
Mailfence – https://mailfence.com
Tuta – https://tuta.com
DisRoot – Email & Productivity Tools – https://disroot.org/en/about
RiseUp – Email & Productivity Tools – https://riseup.net
VPN s
Mullvad– VPN & Browser – https://mullvad.net/en
WireGuard – VPN & Server Configuration – https://www.wireguard.com
IVPN – https://www.ivpn.net/en/
Browsers
Vivaldi – https://vivaldi.com
Tor Browser – https://www.torproject.org
Search Engines
Startpage – https://www.startpage.com/
DuckDuckGo – https://duckduckgo.com
Navigation
Open Street Map – https://www.openstreetmap.org/
Navigation Apps – https://osmand.net
Networking/Cloud Options
WireGuard – https://taggart-tech.com/wireguard/
Tails – https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/01/29/installing-and-using-tails/
Wire Video Conferencing & Productivity – https://wire.com/en/
LinuxOS
DistroSea – Test Drive Linux Distributions on your computer – https://distrosea.com
Linux Mint – https://linuxmint.com
Debian – https://www.debian.org
Tails – Live OS – https://tails.net
OpenSource OS options for Android Phones
GrapheneOS – https://grapheneos.org
PostMarketOS – Phones & Computers: https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices
LineageOS –Phones, Tablets & Smart Devices: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
CalyxOS – https://calyxos.org
/e/OS – https://doc.e.foundation/easy-installer
TizenOS – Phones, Netbooks, Tablets, Wearables, Smart TVs: https://developer.tizen.org
iPhone OS Resources
Project Sandcastle for iPhone – https://projectsandcastle.org
OpenSource Home Security Firmware
Thingino – https://thingino.com
OpenSource Router Firmware
OPNsense – https://opnsense.org
OpenWrt – https://openwrt.org
______________________________
Additional Comprehensive Security Culture Resources
Surveillance Self-Defense – https://ssd.eff.org/
Avoid the Hack – https://avoidthehack.com
Privacy Guides – https://www.privacyguides.org/en/
Civil Liberties Defense Center – Digital Security (DS) Program – https://cldc.org/security/
Security-in-a-Box is a Project – https://securityinabox.org/en/
Strengthen your digital security with Freedom of the Press Foundation – https://freedom.press/digisec/
Neighborhood Anarchist Collective – Security Culture – https://neighborhoodanarchists.org/
PRISM ⚡ Break – https://prism-break.org/en/
Surveillance Info
https://atlasofsurveillance.org
https://www.surveillancewatch.io
Social Media monitoring
https://theintercept.com/2025/02/11/ice-immigration-social-media-surveillance/
https://www.theverge.com/news/610951/federal-workers-privacy-surveillance-signal-facebook-messenger
MS Dynamics 365
https://www.404media.co/how-a-microsoft-app-is-powering-employee-surveillance
Google Gemini
Apple Backdoor
Previously Trusted Companies
Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird
AI Integration via Roost, partnering with the likes of Microsoft https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/ai/roost-launch-ai-safety-tools-nonprofit/
Cooperating with governments to prevent use of anti-surveillance tools https://theintercept.com/2024/06/12/mozilla-firefox-russia-censorship-blocked/
Proton Mail/Wallet
Proton being called into question started with the CEO, Andy Yen, tweeting support of Trump Admin & cabinet picks. https://theintercept.com/2025/01/28/proton-mail-andy-yen-trump-republicans/
