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Book Review: SMS Uprising – Mobile Activism in Africa

Editor: Sokari Ekine

Authors: Nathan Eagle, Ken Banks, Redante Asuncion-Reed, Anil Naidoo, Amanda Atwood, Christiana Charles-Iyoha, Becky Faith, Joshua Goldstein, Christian Kreutz, Tanya Notley, Juliana Rotich, Berna Twanza Ngolobe, Bukeni Waruzi

Subject: SMS Uprising gives an overview of the use of mobile technology for development and empowerment in Africa.

The book is made up of two parts. The first four chapters explore the context of mobile activism. Christian Kreutz has contributed a great summary of future trends and software developments in African mobile activism. Another essay by Ken Banks asks whether “social mobile” is “empowering the many or the few”.

The second part consists of seven case studies from several African countries. The fields they describe are equally diverse, ranging from e-agriculture to dissemination of political news. A special focus lies on the empowerment of women. Anil Naidoo from South Africa describes how mobiles are used in the UmNyango project to empower women in the rural region of KwaZulu Natal, and WOUGNET from Uganda aims to ameliorate the economic situation of female farmers in Uganda.

I especially liked the essay by Rotich and Joshua Goldstein on “Digitally networked technology in Kenya’s 2007–08 post-election crisis”. It is a short version of a case study written for the Berkman Center’s Internet and Democracy Project. The chapter looks at three facettes of social media in a conflict situation: “SMS campaigns to promote violence, blogs to challenge mainstream media narratives, and online campaigns to promote awareness of human rights violations.”

SMS Uprising combines theoretical groundwork and practical case studies useful to everyone interested in the use of mobile technology for activism and development. While some chapters are a bit longer than necessary, in combination the book provides a good overview of the issue.

SMS Uprising is published by Pambazuka Press. It is available on their website as a paperback plus PDF for £12.99 or the PDF alone for £9.99 as well as on Amazon.

[This is an altered version of a post I wrote for my blog, i like patterns.]

“10 Tactics” you can use

Tactical Technology Collective is the premiere international training organization for rights activists interested in using information and digital technology to create positive change.   They have recently released a film that beautifully presents 10 key tactics in info-activism.  The tactics are:

Facebook Guia en Español

Thanks to our friends at the International Forum for Democratic Studies and the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL), based in Argentina, we are proud to announce that our guide to Facebook activism is now available in Spanish. Click the image at left to download a PDF copy.

The guide, written by DigiActive team member Dan Schultz, is also available in English and Arabic. Our guide to Twitter activism, by Andreas Jungherr, is available in English and Spanish.

Tactic: Is your voice threatened?

Did you know online journalists and bloggers now represent 45% of all media workers in prison worldwide?

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, this is the first time that online journalists/bloggers represent the largest professional category in prison. The country with the worst record is China.

Global Voices Advocacy has recently published a map — Threatened Voices — to visually display these imprisoned bloggers.

They are currently tracking 191 bloggers, which is a confronting statistic because it implies there are many more bloggers and online activists who have been imprisoned for their blog content.

As digital activits — and particularly those in countries that promote free speech — it’s important for us to remember that some voices are still not being heard. If we genuinely believe in free speech we need to be supportive of those voices by amplifing them, and in a way that maintains the safety of the blogger. One way we can do this is through digital activism. For me, amplifying those voices that are often not heard is what activism is all about.

DigiActive Memo: US Embargoes Harm Activists

DigiActive’s Mary Joyce, Andreas Jungherr and Daniel Schultz recently created a policy memo on the harmful effects of American software embargoes on digital activists around the world. It was presented for a Congressional hearing before the US Helsinki Commission.

A brief overview:

In the digital age, where a “good” is a string of code that can be delivered anywhere in the world with the click of a mouse, even today’s smart sanctions are not smart enough.  By preventing access to blogging platforms, social networks, and other types of new media, current embargo policies harm the very activists who are furthering our common goals of democracy promotion, while leaving authoritarian governments free to spread propaganda through a range of state-controlled media outlets.

The full version is below.  Click to download the .pdf:

Not Smart Enough:
How America’s “Smart” Sanctions Harm the World’s Digital Activists

by Mary Joyce, Andreas Jungherr and Daniel Schultz[1]
The DigiActive Working Group on Sanction Reform for the Digital Age

A Wave of Attacks on the World’s Digital Activists

In the winter and spring of this year, a wave of attacks on digital activists began.  In Zimbabwe, the web site of one the nation’s strongest pro-democracy groups, Kubatana, was threatened with being shut down.  In Belarus, another pro-democracy web site, this one representing the Belarussian American Association, received the same threat.  In February bloggers in Iran received a similar notice that their blogs would be suspended, this in spite of research by the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society that the Iranian blogosphere is a vibrant arena for both supporters and opponents of the current regime.  In Sudan, aid workers are unable to download Google Earth and its “Crisis in Darfur” map, which would give them important information on sites of violence.  In April users in Syria were temporarily blocked from using the social network LinkedIn, though social networks have played an important role in organizing grassroots citizen movements in countries from Egypt and Morocco to Colombia.

… Perpetrated by United States’ Embargo Policies

Who was behind this wave of attacks?  Was it President Mugabe? President Lukashenko? President Assad?  No.  The perpetrator of these attacks on pro-democracy activists was none other than the United States government and American companies adhering to its embargo regimes.

The United States has several embargo regimes related both to particular products (such as encryption software) and to individuals.  These sanctions were designed to protect US interests while limiting the effect of these measures to our nation’s enemies.  Yet in the digital age, where a “good” is a string of code that can be delivered anywhere in the world with the click of a mouse, even today’s smart sanctions are not smart enough.  By preventing access to blogging platforms, social networks, and other types of new media, current embargo policies harm the very activists who are furthering our common goals of democracy promotion, while leaving authoritarian governments free to spread propaganda through a range of state-controlled media outlets.

… With American Firms Caught in an Untenable Position

These embargo policies leave American firms in a difficult position.  Overwhelmed by a mass of overlapping sanctions, many take the most conservative position and simply cut off all clients in targeted countries, even though sanctions target only a few individuals.  This was the policy of the Utah-based company Bluehost, which was responsible for cutting off users in Zimbabwe, Belarus, and Iran earlier this year.  Especially in light of potential fines, Bluehost decided to play it safe by cutting off all users in embargoed countries, rather than constantly cross-check their users against Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) lists.

Though activists may be frustrated with this kind of corporate decision-making, it is consistent with the firm’s role as a profit-making entity.  American companies may choose to promote ethical activity and protect activists in foreign nations, but this is hardly their purpose.  When protecting activists means potentially running afoul of the US government, it is not surprising that many firms choose to cut off activists to protect shareholder interests.

New Embargo Policies for the Digital Age

In light of these private-sector realities, responsibility for protecting foreign democracy activists falls to the US government.  DigiActive’s Working Group on Sanction Reform for the Digital Age recommends the following steps in order to bring about this reform:

1. Creation of a Single Body of Software Regulations: Members of the government bodies responsible for promulgating sanctions should conduct a thorough review of all regulations and legislation related to embargoes on software including, but not limited to, the Commerce Department’s Export Administration Regulations and the sanctions programs maintained by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.  This review would result in the creation of a single volume of software policies which, at a minimum, will make it easier for US firms to abide by current rules and, by clarifying their responsibilities, would allow them to follow the letter of the law rather than taking the unnecessarily conservative positions they are currently applying to avoid the risk of transgressing unclear embargo regulations.
2. Stakeholder Review of Software Regulations:  Once this single body of regulation is created, stakeholders should be invited to comment and suggest modifications to the existing rules.  This stakeholder group should include, but not be limited to, representatives of the agencies responsible for promulgating and enforcing the sanctions, representatives of American firms who must abide by the sanctions, and experts in digital activism and democracy promotion.
3. Promulgation of New Regulations:  Based on this stakeholder review, DigiActive suggests that a new set of sanctions be promulgated that recognize 1) that software embargoes function quite differently than embargoes on physical goods 2) that any software embargo is highly susceptible to failure because of the ease in circumventing online blocks to digital goods and 3) that access to new media tools is a great benefit to democracy activists, who lack other means of organization and message dissemination, while being of little use to authoritarian regimes, who have entire state apparatuses at their disposal.

We at the DigiActive Working Group on Sanction Reform for the Digital Age are optimistic about the positive outcome of this process and would like to offer our continuing assistance.  You may contact us through our web site at www.DigiActive.org .

[1] This policy memo was originally written for a Congressional briefing panel before the Commission
on Security and Cooperation in Europe (October 22, 2009)

To download the full version, please click

Twitter list of top digital activism resources

We’ve begun a TweepML list of some of the influential Twitter users in the digital activism space, primarily individuals, groups and organizations who are focusing their time on following the digital activism space from a research/analytic/reporting standpoint.

The list can be found here.

We want to be as inclusive as possible and would love to expand this list.  Our goal is to get a Top 100 for the field (we need 75 more).

But we need your help! Please Twitter Kate, send her an email (kate @ katebrodock (dot) com) or leave a comment with additions to the list.

Guide to Twitter for Activism… en Español

We are very excited to announce the translation of the DigiActive Guide to Twitter for Activism in Spanish, our first Spanish content on this site. You can download a PDF version by clicking the image below.  (You can also download the original English version here.)  We are so grateful to our (anonymous) team of volunteer translators for making this new version possible.

Haz clic para descargar

A Note for Translators: The guide is published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution license and we welcome other translations by individuals and organizations who will release their version under the same conditions. To receive a copy of the guide in an editable format, please e-mail Contact AT DigiActive DOT org.

Book Review: Learning from Obama: Lessons for Online Communicators in 2009 and Beyond

[Softcover Publish Date is 19 August 2009: Download for free from epolitics.com]

Author

Colin Delany

Subject

This book explores the communication strategy of the Obama presidential election campaign in the United States during 2008.

From an outsider’s view (I have never lived in the United States), I was amazed at how the Obama election campaign mobilised supporters. However, I have to admit to having suffered Obama fatigue by the end of it all: it seemed that everybody with a blog or Twitter account had an expert opinion on how Obama won his campaign.

Colin Delany is an exception. He has written many posts on political campaigning over several years, and he has done an exceptional job at summarizing the key elements of the campaign’s communication strategy that contributed to Obama’s success in his book “Learning from Obama: Lessons for Online Communicators in 2009 and Beyond”.

One salient point Delany makes about the Obama campaign is that while the bulk of fundraising came from online activities, most funds were spent on television advertising, because it is the best way to communicate with the uncommitted and uninvolved. The call to action on television advertising was usually to go online for more information, thereby increasing the campaign’s online network of supporters.

This point is particularly important for us as digital activists to bear in mind. While we may often have a big impact using online tools, traditional communication methods we can still change people’s minds and actions.

[Full Disclosure: DigiActive co-founder Mary Joyce was an employee of the Obama campaign, but did not play a part in the selection of this topic.]

Quick Guide to Secure Communication

UPDATE: Version 5.0 is now available in .doc form (click here to download).

Patrick Meier, DigiActive’s director of applied research, has created a very thorough list of ways to stay safe and protect your data while taking part in digital activism in repressive countries. We have reproduced Patrick’s list of tactics and technologies below and we encourage you to read his original post on his blog iRevolution to learn more about his conceptual framing of these issues as well as to read the useful feedback in the comments section. For more in-depth information on digital security for activists, check out Tactical Tech’s Security in-a-box.

Since this is quite a long list, here is a table of contents. The list below (which continues after the jump) contains both tactics and technologies for keeping safe while using the following devices and applications:

• Mobile Phones
• Digital Cameras
• Computers/Laptops
• Flash Disks
• E-mail
• Browsers and Web Sites
• VoIP (online telephony)
• Blogs and Social Networking Sites
• File Sharing
• Cyber Cafes

Security Tactics

• Mobile Phones
  • Purchase your mobile phone far from where you live. Buy lower-end, simple phones that do not allow third-party applications to be installed. Higher-end ones with more functionalities carry more risk. Use cash to purchase your phone and SIM card. Avoid town centers and find small or second-hand shops as these are unlikely to have security cameras. Do not give your real details if asked; many shops do not ask for proof of ID.
  • Use multiple SIM cards and multiple phones and only use pay-as-you go options; they are more expensive but required for anonymity.
  • Remove the batteries from your phone if you do not want to be geo-located and keep the SIM card out of the phone when not in use and store in separate places.Use your phone while in a moving vehicle to reduces probability of geo-location.
  • Never say anything that may incriminate you in any way.
  • Use code.
  • Use Beeping instead of SMS whenever possible. Standard text messages are visible to the network operator, including location, phone and SIM card identifiers. According to this recent paper, the Chinese government has established 2,800 SMS surveillance centers around the country to monitor and censor text messages. The Chinese firm Venus Info Tech Ltd sells real-time content monitoring and filtering for SMS.
  • Use fake names for your address book and memorize the more important numbers. Frequently delete your text messages and call history and replace them with random text messages and calls. The data on your phone is only deleted if it is written over with new data. This means that deleted SMS and contact numbers can sometimes be retrieved (with a free tool like unDeleteSMS. Check your phone’s settings to see whether it can be set to not store sent texts messages and calls.
  • Eavesdropping in mobile phone conversations is technically complicated although entirely possible using commercially available technology. Do not take mobile phones with you to meetings as they can be turned into potential listening/tracking devices. Network operators can remotely activate a phone as a recording device regardless of whether someone is using the phone or whether the phen is even switched on. This functionality is available on US networks.
  • Network operators can also access messages or contact information stored on the SIM card. If surveillance takes place with the co-operation of the operator, little can be done to prevent the spying.
  • Mobile viruses tend to spread easily via Bluetooth so the latter should be turned off when not in use.
  • Using open Bluetooth on phones in group situations, e.g., to share pictures, etc., can be dangerous. At the same time, it is difficult to incriminate any one person and a good way to share information when the cell phone network and Internet are down.
  • Discard phones that have been tracked and burn them; it is not sufficient to simply destroy the SIM card and re-use the phone.

• Digital Cameras
  • Keep the number of sensitive pictures on your camera to a minimum.
  • Add plenty of random non-threatening pictures (not of individuals) and have these safe pictures locked so when you do a “delete all” these pictures stay on the card.
  • Keep the battery out of the camera when not in use so it can’t be turned on by others.
  • Practice taking pictures without having to look at the view screen.

• Computers/Laptops
  • Use passphrases for all your sensitive data.
  • Keep your most sensitive files on flash disks and find safe places to hide them.
  • Have a contingency plan to physically destroy or get rid of your computer at short notice.

• Flash disks
  • Purchase flash disks that don’t look like flash disks.
  • Keep flash disks hidden.

• Email communication
  • Use code.
  • Use passphrases instead of passwords and change them regularly. Use letters, numbers and other characters to make them “c0mpLeX!”. Do not use personal information and changer your passphrases each month. Do not use the same password for multiple sites.
  • Never use real names for email addresses and use multiple addresses.
  • Discard older email accounts on a regular basis and create new ones.
  • Know the security, safety and privacy policies of providers and monitor any chances (see terms of service tracker).

• Browsers and websites
  • Turn off java and other potentially malicious add-ons.
    
  • Learn IP addresses of visited websites so that history shows only numbers and not names.
  • When browsing on a public computer, delete your private data (search history, passwords, etc.) before you leave.
  • When signing up for an account where you will be publishing sensitive media, do not use your personal email address and don’t give personal information.
  • Don’t download any software from pop-ups, they may be malicious and attack your computer or record your actions online.
  • Do not be logged in to any sensitive site while having another site open.

• VoIP
  • Just because your talking online doesn’t mean you are not under surveillance.
  • As with a cell or landline, use code do not give salient details about your activities, and do not make incriminating statements.
  • Remember that your online activities can be surveilled using offline techniques. It doesn’t matter if you are using encrypted VOIP at a cyber cafe if the person next to you is an under-cover police officer.
  • When possible, do not make sensitive VOIP calls in a cyber cafe. It is simply too easy for someone to overhear you. If you must, use code that doesn’t stand out.

• Blogs and social networking sites
  • Know the laws in your country pertaining to liability, libel, etc.
  • When signing up for a blog account where you will be publishing sensitive content, do not use you personal email address or information.
  • In your blog posts and profile page, do not post pictures of yourself or your friends, do not use your real name, and do not give personal details that could help identify you (town, school, employer, etc.).
  • Blog platforms like wordpress allow uses to automatically publish a post on a designated date and time. Use this functionality to auto-publish on a different day when you are away from the computer.
  • On social networks, create one account for activism under a false but real-sounding name (so your account won’t be deleted) but don’t tell your friends about it. The last thing you want is a friend writing on your wall or tagging you in a photo and giving away your identity.
  • Even if you delete your account on a social networking site, your data will remain, so be very careful about taking part in political actions (i.e., joining sensitive groups) online.
  • Never join a sensitive group with your real account. Use your fake account to join activism groups. (The fake account should not be linked to your fake email).
  • Don’t use paid services. Your credit card can be linked back to you.

• File sharing
  • Use a shared Gmail account with a common passphrase and simply save emails instead of sending. Change passphrase monthly.
  • For sharing offline, do not label storage devices (CDs, flash drives) with the true content. If you burn a CD with an illegal video or piece of software on it, write an album label on it.
  • Don’t leave storage devices in places where they would be easily found if your office or home were searched (i.e., on a table, in a desk drawer).
  • Keep copies of your data on two flash drives and keep them hidden in separate locations.
  • When thinking of safe locations, consider who else has access. Heavily-traveled locations are less safe.
  • Don’t travel with sensitive data on you unless absolutely necessary. If you need to, make sure to hide it on your person or “camouflage” it (label a data CD as a pop music CD). See Sneakernet.

• Internet Cafes
  • Assume you are being watched.
  • Assume computers at cyber cafes are tracking key strokes and capturing screenshots.
  • Avoid cyber cafes without an easy exit and have a contingency plan if you need to leave rapidly.

Security Technologies

• Mobile phones
  • Use CryptoSMS, SMS 007 or Kryptext to text securely (this requires java-based phones).
  • Use Android Guardian as soon as it becomes available.
  • Access mobile versions of websites as they are usually not blocked. In addition, connecting to mobile websites provides for faster connections.

• Digital cameras
  • Use scrubbing software such as: JPEG stripper to remove the metadata (Exif data) from your pictures before you upload/email.
  • Have a safe Secure Digital Card (SD) that you can swap in. Preferably, use a mini SD card with a mini SD-SD converter. Then place the mini SD into a compatible phone for safekeeping.

• Computers/Laptops
  • Use an effective anti-virus program and ensure it updates itself online at least once a day: TMIS, McAfee, Symantec/Norton, AVG, Avira, NOD32, Kaspersky.
  • Do not use illegal, cracked, hacked, pwned, warez software.
  • Keep your software programs (operating systems, productivity suites, browsers) up-to-date with the latest software updates.
  • Use software to encrypt your hard drive: Bitlocker, TrueCrypt, PGP Whole Disk Encryption, Check Point, Dekart Private Disk.
  • Use a different file type to hide your sensitive files. For example, the .mov file extension will make a large file look like a movie.
  • Mac users can use Little Snitch to track all the data that goes into and out of your computer.
  • From a technical perspective, there’s no such thing as the delete function. Your deleted data is eventually written over with new data. There are two common ways to wipe sensitive data from your hard drive or storage device. You can wipe a single file or you can wipe all of the ‘unallocated’ space on the drive. Eraser is a free and open-source secure deletion tool that is extremely easy to use.

• Flash disks
  • StealthySurfer USB Flash Drive
  • The secure browsing Tor software can be installed on flash disk.
  • Using a USB watch calls less attention as do the USB ear rings and this credit card USB flash disk.

• Email communication
  • Use https when using Gmail.
  • Use encrypted email platforms such as Hushmail and RiseUp.

• Browsers and websites
  • Use Firefox and get certain plugins to follow website tracking such as ghostery and adblock, adart to remove ads/trackers.
  • User Tor software or Psiphon to browse privately and securely.
  • I shan’t list access points for secure browsers, Proxy servers and VPNs here. Please email me for a list.
  • Always use https in “Settings/General/Browser Connection.”

• VoIP
  • Use Skype but not TOM Skype (Chinese version). Note that Skype is not necessarily 100% secure since no one has access to the source code to verify.
  • Off The Record (OTR) is a good encryption plugin. For example, use Pidgin with OTR (you need to add the plug-in yourself).
  • Gizmo offer encryption for voice conversations, and then only if you are calling another VoIP user, as opposed to a mobile or landline telephone. However, because neither application is open-source, independent experts have been unable to test them fully and ensure that they are secure.
  • Adium is a free IM application for Macs with built-in OTR encryption that integrates most other IM applications.

• Blogs and social networking platforms
  • There are no safe social networks. The best way to be safe on a social network is fake account and a proxy server.
  • The anonymous blogging platform Invisiblog no longer exists, so the best bet now is WordPress + Proxy (preferably Tor) + anonymity of content.
  • Log out of facebook.com when not using the site.

• File sharing
  • Use Drop.io to create a private, secure media sharing site.
  • Use BasecampHQ with secure/SSL option to create more specific usernames and passwords for each user or remote site.

• Internet Cafe
  • Tor can be installed on flash disk and used at Internet cafe and also used from LiveCDs if flash drives are not allowed.

• Other potential tech
  • LiveScribe (see explanation here).
  • FreedomFone

image: amelungc/Flickr

The DigiActive Guide to Twitter for Activism

We are very excited to announce the release of The DigiActive Guide to Twitter for Activism.  Following the recent protests in Moldova, the value of Twitter as a tool for digital activism is more prominent than ever.  Yet in addition to bringing greater awareness to that tool, the hype surrounding Moldova revealed misunderstanding of the value of of Twitter for activism and, even though the realists responded strongly, there was not a stand-alone resource which clearly defined how Twitter could be used by activists.  We hope this guide will fill that void.

Click the cover image to download the guide (PDF format)

The guide provides a wealth of information on Twitter activism.  It  begins with an introduction to the platform (p. 5) and its terminology (p. 6) and then lays out five uses of Twitter for activists, each illustrated by a case study (p. 6-11).  The guide then presents a step-by-step strategy for using Twitter for political and social change (p. 12) along with a list of do’s and don’ts (p. 14) for campaigners.  The guide ends with additional resources for Twitterers, such as applications that help you use Twitter (p. 16), further reading (p. 20), and even alternatives to Twitter (p. 18).

The guide was written by Andreas Jungherr, a master’s candidate in political science at the University of Mainz in Germany, and was reviewed and improved by scholars, activists, and the DigiActive team, all for your reading enjoyment.  Please respond with your feedback in the comments section below.

A Note for Translators:  The guide is published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution license and we welcome translation by individuals and organizations who will release their version under the same conditions. To receive a copy of the guide in an editable format, please e-mail Contact AT DigiActive DOT org.