Meeting Advice
by Parity Check and Romula Velcro
Following the disruption of the November 2600 meeting in Washington, D.C., we have received several suggestions on strategies and ways of preventing problems in the future. We are printing two of those here.
While we must thank the contributors for sharing their thoughts, we have to point out that neither piece really captures the spirit of a 2600 meeting. While the first article contains good suggestions and valuable tactics, it could also give the impression that the primary reason for our meetings is to outwit and defeat the authorities who happen to be present. While this feeling may exist, and is certainly intensified during harassment campaigns, the main reason for our gatherings is simply to get together, meet people, and show the world that we've got nothing to hide. The meetings are not acts of civil disobedience. Nor are they forms of guerrilla warfare. If, however, the authorities step over the line, we are prepared to make it an issue in a civilized and mature manner, as was proven in Washington, D.C. Otherwise, we bear no animosity towards people in uniforms.
The second article comes from a journalist who suggests ways of "legitimizing" 2600 meetings. Again, many of the suggestions are sound and worth pursuing. But our meetings are flagrantly informal, to the degree that any agenda or form of organization would be largely alien to us. Hackers exist best in an unstructured environment and it would be wrong for any of us to try and change that. What we can do is show the world that our unstructured existence, both at the meetings and on computers, is not analogous to chaos.
Parity Check's Advice
The recent disruption of hacker meetings by law enforcement agencies in the United States has gotten me to think about security in public places. There seems to be a misconception that since you are in a public place, the cops will be less inclined to harass you because of bad press. Nothing could be further from the truth. The officials have public relations people that could convince the average population that the pope is, in fact, the devil-himself. Then again, considering the average Joe Cool, it's relatively easy to do.
If they nail you in a mall, they can B.S. everyone by saying that you are a young offender, urban terrorist, drug dealer, or something. The fact that most of us in the underground community are young doesn't help: Who are you going to trust? The respectable looking gentleman in uniform, the last line of defense against anarchy? Or the rather snotty looking kid in jeans who's carrying all those illegal looking devices? Much too young to be on his own. I'll bet he has a police record. What's he up to? He probably wants to steal my wallet! That'll teach him! (Get the point?)
First of all, don't call a meeting on the fly. Plan it. Go there even before spreading the word of the meeting and look around. Draw a map if you have to. Look for exits, note where they are, how many, etc... Your meeting place should have 360° vision all around to see trouble coming up to you. If you know what's coming up at you, you'll have more time to react, hence more time to make the right decision for that situation.
You might want to consider having spotters walking around the mall. Have them come in a couple of hours before you and take places at the food court, rest area, or whatever and start talking with each other, basically looking like John Q. Public, blending in with the background. Their job is to watch the watchers, look at people who are around, and look for stares at your group. They are your source of intelligence on the environment around you. If you get advance warning of a build-up in the "Cop-to-Joe" ratio, then your chances of confrontation are far less.
One thing that will tip you off as to someone's intentions is the body language. Most of us don't realize it but we constantly give indications of our intents and internal emotions. Probably the most expressive are the eyes. This is why bodyguards wear dark glasses. Except with very good training and practice, it cannot be stopped. Look it up somewhere in a book and use your gut feelings.
Set up a danger signal with your people. You can have the simplest of hand signals to a wireless mic in your friend's collar that transmits to your Walkman "playing" George Bush's greatest hits or something. Pick your spots carefully. You want your spotters to be well situated, where they can look and see everything. If the place has many levels, put people on the highest; they'll have a much better view of things and will be able to check the bigger pictures.
However, you will lose body language at this distance. If you can get access to an apartment or an isolated place overlooking the meeting, you can get carried away with a camera and binoculars - more stuff to use against them if you do get harassed by an agency. You also want a plan if the shit really hits the pan. The first thing to do is spread out: a mob is easy to contain because everyone's together as a single target. A set of 15 individuals heading in all directions is a pain to control because they now have multiple targets, thus they will be less effective.
Next, you want your people to be organized and the cops confused. This maximizes your chance of escape. One thing you can try is having a female in your group wait till one gets close to her and then scream rape! or something really embarrassing. It will not look real, but it just might confuse them and seriously embarrass them. One thing that you might try but that I'm really itchy about is using a laser pointer or a hydrogen (red) laser of some kind. Tell your spotters to sight it on the cops. With luck they might think it's a gunsight. This however might bring more harm than anything else since they might lose it and shoot (at you).
Another way of creating confusion is jamming the radios they have. It will not last long as they will resort to backups and landlines but it will give you a couple of seconds.
The methods available to create confusion are countless but you will want to weigh the consequences of your actions. Firing up a half dozen industrial grade smoke bombs is not a good idea: there will be a panic and a stampede in which people (this means you) could and will get hurt and/or killed. This is without mention of the legal actions that could be taken against you with reason.
On the lighter side, nothing would be worse that resetting the burglar alarms to arm mode, sounding the flood alarms, throwing water balloons from another position, sending a bucket of ball bearings sailing across the floor, a water pistol filled with crazy glue, turning off all the lights, toying with the PA system so that the volume is real loud, or anything that will create general mayhem.
In conclusion, this is the real ball game. The above might sound paranoid and it probably is, but I'd rather be a free-roving paranoid than in prison. The other team has (some) training to fall back on. You have your guts and your knowledge. The one that reacts the fastest and the wisest wins.
Romula Velcro's Advice
Your meetings are being disrupted. Illegal searches and seizures are taking place. You're being treated like a criminal simply because you are a member of a certain group. You're being intimidated, harassed, or even detained without being accused of a crime. Your constitutional rights are being infringed.
If these things are happening to people in your group and you're not getting any press coverage (or any coverage you do get is biased in favor of official and corporate sources), it's time to start developing a relationship with your local media. You need to let them know your side of the story. Radical, "alternative" weeklies will be more sympathetic, but there are ways to work with the "mainstream" press too, so don't ignore it. Keep in mind that a majority of reporters are liberal, even though their employers are not.
Here's what you can do:
1.) Name your group, get a post office box, design a logo, get some letterhead, choose one person to be the publicity director, and start writing press releases. If you can afford one, rent a private P.O. box. Be sure to ask the mailbox company about their privacy policies; many allow box renters to use pseudonyms. They often have voice mail and fax services, so take advantage of them. These services are expensive but worth it, so pool your funds. Getting a U.S. Mail post office box under the name of a group requires supplying the names and addresses of one or two people in the group, and anybody can call the post office and find out who rents the box.
2.) Call the newspaper and get the mailing address for the news department, ask who the city editor is, get their extension number, and direct your press releases and phone calls to that person. Find out if there is some kind of guide to communicating with the paper that tells "who's who" at the paper and what they do. Pick one up or have one mailed to you.
3.) Make sure that you have "news" to communicate. If your meetings are being monitored or disrupted, if members are being followed, if other harassment is taking place, that's news. Arrests and lawsuits are also news.
4.) Consider publicizing your meetings. (Your group may even decide to establish a "public" or "legitimate" arm for public relations purposes while maintaining a private "core.") Meet regularly, decide on a topic of discussion for each meeting, and don't make it too technical. Privacy and "big government" issues - Caller ID, credit reports, public information, data security, etc. - are most likely to get members of the public interested.
5.) Get a public meeting space. Universities, public libraries, the Unitarian Society, community centers, churches, city recreation departments, etc., often have low-cost or free spaces for public use. Watch the newspaper's calendar listings to find out where various groups meet. Network with other radical and free speech-oriented groups to find out where to meet, who their media contacts are, what their experiences with harassment have been, how to find a good lawyer, etc.
6.) When you have a meeting time and place established (plan at least a month in advance), announce the meeting at least two weeks in advance by sending a press release to every daily and weekly newspaper in your area. Write a headline saying something like "Hacker Group Opens Meetings to Public." List the name of your group, topic of discussion, names of guest speakers, time, date, place, and contact name and phone number. Send one release to the calendar listings section and one to the city editor or a sympathetic reporter. Why not send one to your friendly Secret Service or FBI agent? See how many people you can get to come to your meetings. By avoiding any hint of clandestine activities, you'll make it harder for the feds to harass you.
7.) Invite speakers from a nearby university, ACLjU, law enforcement, local Secret Service or FBI office, a representative of the phone company, etc., to address your meeting. How about a panel discussion with representatives from academia, government, corporations, ACLjU, the media? Keep the media informed of your activities. ("Hacker Group to Host Computer Piracy Forum” would be an eye-catching headline.)
8.) If you have filed a lawsuit, it's a good idea to contact the paper's court reporter (or have your lawyer do it) to alert them to the suit and to leave a contact name and phone number so they'll be able to reach you for comment. Naturally, they can get this information from the court - if they're aware that the suit has been filed and if they're interested - but call them anyway.
9.) If your meetings are being disrupted and an editor doesn't want to cover your story, ask him or her if he or she would cover the story if your group were the NAACP. The media will pay attention to you if they are made to understand the issues underlying your problems. If you are only interested in breaking into computer and phone systems for fraudulent use or to steal data, you're not going to get much sympathy. If, however, your right of public assembly, right to protection against illegal search and seizure, and right to free expression are being infringed upon because you happen to be a member of a certain group, the media should be interested in these issues.
10.) Check out your local public access television station. In my community, Cox Cable has a monopoly on cable TV and, as part of its contract with the city, is required to fund the city's public access TV station. This station must air all non-commercial video submitted by the public (even birthday parties, little Susie's first haircut, etc.), completely free of censorship. Maybe you can videotape your meetings (they should be around 28-29 or 58- 59 minutes in length) and send them to the station for broadcast, or appear on someone's show, or produce your own show.
Unfortunately, most news outlets are owned by huge chains that are more concerned about profits than about their responsibility as government watchdogs for the public. Reporters who work for the mainstream press - especially those at small or medium circulation dailies with small staffs and few resources - are basically desk jockeys who do most of their work by phone, fax, and mail. They rely heavily on wire stories and the government and corporate PR machinery. It's up to you to let them know your side of the story because they probably don't have the time to try to track you down.
Martin A. Lee and (((Norman Solomon))) examined these issues at length in their book, Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media. Lee is the co-founder of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR).