LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING AND DECEIVING LOOKS CAN DRAW HEAT

Throughout the 2010s US “Operators” were routinely outed in Yemen due to their full beards often grown as facial concealment. Yemen being a place where men typically sport mustaches the operators’ beard made them extremely noticeable. This is one kind example of where concealment can I fact actually draw adversarial attention.

In 2020 activists in Seattle found the location of Mayor Jenny Durkan’s house precisely because it was the only house blurred out on google maps to the protected status she obtained after pissing off some bratva.

Police UCs (under covers) and wannabe operators grey manning at protests often dress overly nondescript which in combination with sunglasses and specific facial hair that gives them what activists call “cop face” often alerts protestors etc to their presence.

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DECEIVING LOOKS (continued)

Protestors, particularly black blocers, who practice outfit changes also have this problem. On their way to or from demos many make the mistake of dressing awkwardly normal, especially in hipper areas, and in combination with awkward use sunglasses and hats and the like they look sketchier than they would if they just dressed how they typically do. Likewise some bloc up to early or come to events where others aren’t in bloc so that them being bloc’d up actually makes them more distinct than anything.

One solution to this UCs have found is dressing like homeless people, people who are typically mentally avoided by passersby and whose odd dress and awkward presence is often accepted.

In South Africa the apartheid resistance used to just send their secret communications through the mail because it was more likely that their curriers would be stopped and searched because of their secretive signaling behavior than the high volume government operated postal service.

It’s also not just in meat space where this occurs. The NSA for example put people on the X KEYSCORE list for looking up how to use the TAILS operating system or and the Tor browser. And internet customers who use Tor have been the victim of dragnet surveillance. Likewise radical email hosts are watched with more scrutiny and since there’s less traffic on them they are more heavily surveilled. Of course it’s true something like gmail will just cooperate with the cops using PGP encryption over gmail has at times been safer than using radical services especially if you’re not encrypting the messages. They’re are also of course benefits having trusted servers etc, but that’s a whole different can of worms.

It is also the case that if you buy a burner style pay as you go cellphone with cash in the US the authorities are notified and your phone is added to dragnet surveillance. Which is not to say they’re less safe than phones linked to ones state name etc but it is a reality to consider. One way this has been subverted is using a prepaid card, another is the more inherently fraudulent; using some other random person’s information to get on a phone plan.

Shoplifters know this rule well many strolling into and out of the store confidently (often leaving with a full cart) dressed in everyday attire rather than in a hoodie and sunglasses and placing things in their jacket which is sure to draw the attention of loss prevention. Of course every context is different and this isn’t a shoplifting 101 but you get the idea. Shifty eyes may give better situational awareness, but they are also a red flag. Sunglasses may hide shifty eyes but on a day without bright sun they may draw attention as well. And so on.

On the plus side we live in an age where masks and encrypted communications are becoming normalized. And while not every tell is as obvious as a person whistling to seem casual, with the proper critical thinking pretty much everyone can avoid the trap of adversarial attention wrought by concealment measures.

“We are often defeated. However, no matter how often beaten, we cannot forget the joy we felt during the fight. The pleasure of stretching our will power. The pleasure of trying out our own strength. The pleasure of seeing a manifestation of real comradely emotions among comrades. The pleasure of seeing the world clearly divided into friend and foe. And above all of these various pleasures, the pleasure of seeing faintly and gradually our own future and society’s future. The pleasure of seeing an improvement in our own personalities.”

-Ōsugi Sakae, 1920

Des policiers sont obligés de se réfugier dans le métro ou fuir face à la pression de la foule. La situation vire à l'émeute à Bruxelles.

Images : Amar Taoualit/ Rémy Busine/ Jules Ravel

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