Tag Archives: technology

Anarchist, Antifa, Antifa Ost, General, Germany, repression, Surveillance, Technology, United States

Rayhunter with Cooper Quintin plus deBanking the Movement in Germany

This week, we’re sharing two segments.

"Rayhunter: Detecing Cell-Site Simulators (aka Stingrays) with Cooper Quintin | The Final Straw Radio – TFSR 2-22-26" featuring the logo for Rayhunter, an orca leaping and taking a bite out of a graph showing available cellular connectivity
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First up, a chat with Cooper Quintin, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and developer of the Rayhunter. Rayhunter is open-source firmware to turn specific hotspots into IMSI-catcher, effectively scanning for and logging any signs of fake cell towers (often known under the brand-name of Stingrays) in the area. Law enforcement has at times deployed these as a way of collecting information about phones in the area and could use it to intercept some communications like sms or phone calls. Cooper talks about what’s known of law enforcement use of IMSI-catchers, what has been observed of the data collected by deployed Rayhunters, phone security at demonstrations and related topics.

Then you’ll hear Radio Ausbruch from Frieberg from this month’s B(A)D News podcast from the A-Radio Network talking about the repression and deBanking of anti-repression projects like ABC Dresden and Rote Hilfe in Germany based on pressure from the US government related to the so-called Antifa Ost case. This carries heavy implications for prisoner support, anti-racist and other social struggles.

Links

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Featured Track:

Encryption, Error451, Surveillance, Technology, Transcribed, United States, zine

Signal Contingency Plan (Delta Chat with Fanny and Mary)

Delta Chat logo featuring a lower case Greek delta in a speech bubble
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This week, an interview we did with a couple of smart friends about the question: what would those of us who rely on Signal encrypted messaging do if that service were disabled in the US. First up, all participants in this discussion agree that Signal is amazing and always getting better, so this is not a take down of that app or it’s developers. But the buds do think that the weakest point for Signal is the centralization of infrastructure with US-based companies. My friends did some thinking and research and put it into a website called Signal-Contingency-Plan.Info and made a zine discussing it and what they consider the best alternative for their needs an app called Delta Chat.

So, for this discussion, they’ll talk about how encrypted apps work, what works so great about Signal, some ups and downs of other available encrypted chat apps and how folks might rebound if Signal got choked out in this manner. As a reminder, at the end of 2024 large parts of the region I’m in lost cellular and internet service and it came back in starts and staggers over a number of months, similar for running and potable water, roads and other infrastructure we rely on. Our hope in sharing this conversation is that people will consider threat modeling to develop social plans for contingency and alternatives for the infrastructures they rely on.

Delta Chat & having a backup for Signal:

Some reporting mentioned:

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Featured Track:

  • Creep (Instrumental) by TLC
  • Sad React by Emperor X from Sad React _ United Earth League of Quarantine Aerobatics

Continue reading Signal Contingency Plan (Delta Chat with Fanny and Mary) →

Police, repression, Security Culture, Surveillance, Technology, Transcribed, U.S. South, United States, zine

Southerners Against Surveillance Systems and Infrastructure (with Ed)

black and white drawing of a cat wearing a balaclava with the word "SASSI" near the bottom + "TFSR 11-2-25 | Southerners Against Surveillance Systems & Infrastructure (with Ed)"
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Ed, co-founder of SASSI (Southerners Against Surveillance Systems & Infrastructure), speaks to The Final Straw Radio about the proliferation of surveillance infrastructure in the South (and more broadly in United States), methods of researching and a little into resisting them.

We speak about topics such as the increasing cooperation between the state and corporate surveillance companies, the desire of these companies to extract ever-increasing amounts of data from the public, the way the state uses private databases to sidestep traditional warrant processes, some of the specific technologies that cities in the south have contracts with and their efficacy. We also touch on how folks at SASSI investigate these topics, and what can be done to help with this effort and ways to think about individual and community safety.

Also of interest to listeners may be our prior episode, Pushing Back On Flock Cameras with Kate Bertash, which Ed references during the chat.

The following links provide more information about topics we briefly touch on in the chat.

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Featured Track:

  • Push by Liquid Liquid from Discography (1981-1984)

Continue reading Southerners Against Surveillance Systems and Infrastructure (with Ed) →

activism, Autonomy, General, Radio, Technology, Transcribed, United States, zine

Signals Rising On DIY Radio Infrastructure

logo of signals rising featuring a radio tower with 7 radio bolts emanating from it
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This week, an interview with members of Signals Rising, who provide education and support around radio technologies including meshtastic networks as alternative communications or in disaster relief scenarios. Check out their website for resources and ways to get in touch.

A project Signals Rising is collaborating with:

Continue reading Signals Rising On DIY Radio Infrastructure →