Month: August 2023

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SO YOU’RE TAKING A PHONE TO A PROTEST: PART 4

[ Previous Tech&Sec articles can be found on our website: https://unoffensiveanimal.is/category/technology-security-101/ ]

The situation is this: there is a slaughterhouse blockade. One of your aims is creating as much media as possible, and give updates on a regular basis. You want to use social media so many people can see photos or take secondary action during the blockade (like calling the press, or pestering the business via email!).

Locking on (or even just being the “press contact”) at an action whilst connecting a smartphone to the social media of your group is a sure way to give away A LOT of information to the cops when they decide to arrest you. Certainly, as we previously have discussed, you should not carry your personal phone, but if you must take a smartphone to a demo to take photos or videos and update social media, we should really avoid risking the log in credentials or the identity of comrades to an arresting cop.

So how do we communicate, share updates and photos, whilst keeping people safe? Here is an idea that could work for you!

Consider first communications. In one hand, you might want to keep in touch with someone you just met at a demo, but you sure do not want to give them your phone number!!! That would be a huge privacy concern! On the other hand, if you need to communicate with folks away from the action, keeping their numbers saved in a device that could (or will) be arrested is handing over the details of your friends to the enemy.

How do we avoid that? We use an encrypted messaging app that does not need to use telephone number to log in. Good bye Signal, hello Session! Session or Briar do not need you to give a telephone number to register an account. We would advice to use Session just because Briar is p2p (see our “let’s get encrypted” series on our website) and depending on the connectivity, messages or images might not get through. Session will allow you to keep in touch with someone you just met but you might not trust, but it will also allow you to communicate with friends without having their telephone numbers saved into a phone that might get nicked.

Now, instead of you logging in to socials whilst locked on or whilst outside the gates of the slaughterhouse, let’s organise a third party to manage social media. They can have a Session account where you send photos, videos, urgent calls for action or updates, and from the comfort of a cafe in the next city over, they can update social media for you. They then can pass on important information too if someone sends intel to the social accounts, or if somebody sends words of encouragement. Depending on the workload, that same person can be a press contact for the group (using a different device!).

Once the action is over, all burner smartphones should also be destroyed, including the one used for social media. The filth really likes to throw conspiracy charges to journalists, so why risk it?!

TO SUM IT UP:

  • Don’t take your personal phone if you know you’re being arrested, or if there is a good chance that you will.
  • Use an encrypted messaging app that does not need telephone numbers, like Session.
  • Don’t log in to socials whilst in the demo, blockade or action.
  • Pass on information to someone else away from the action for them to spread the word.
  • Treat the devices used during the action (including the social media phone) as burners. Don’t turn them on near your home, and destroy them after the action is over!

We keep each other safe!

Your local anarchist cyber-counsellor.

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LEAVING A MARK. TAKE A NEW HOBBY TODAY!

Disclaimer for the feds: Incite, Conspire, Inspire is a solely-for-fun section never designed to give real advice. The tools, tactics and ideas given on the series are only thought to entertain. We would never dream of anyone using any of this tools as a form of dissent and we do not promote, partake in or condone any illegal activities that might derive from said tools.

Looking for a new hobby? You’ve tried rock tumbling and crochet but nothing really scratches the itch? Let us tell you about glass etching! 

Etching glass is a fantastic hobby where you grab glass (like a window or a cup!) and you permanently mark it with a frosty and translucent decoration. You can etch using a stencil, or you can freehand if you want! 

Etching fluid is sold either as a cream or as a liquid, and it normally is made from hydrofluoric acid. For that reason, you should be incredibly careful handling it and wear all the necessary PPI, like mask and gloves! Both forms of etching materials are easy to find in hobby stores. If you end up with cream etching fluid, you can dilute it, but remember that then the frosty look will be lessened. 

Now, let’s get to work! Folks recommend many different tools to start your hobby, but we find that the cheapest are always the best options. Grab a shoe polish bottle with a sponge tip and make sure you clean it thoroughly, getting rid of all the paint. Once that is done, you can fill it up with your fluid (or with your diluted etching cream) and seal it shut. Put the shoe polish bottle in a little plastic bag so you avoid any leakages.

Choose a window in your house that you really don’t mind getting ruined. Some companies are able to buff etching fluid off the window, but it’s expensive, and sometimes the only way you can clean your own mess up is to change the window completely. 

You can now use a stencil you’ve previously cut and use a thicker, more cream-like etching fluid to dab all over it, or you could simply freehand whatever drawing or message you want to permanently mark on your window! At first, it might look like water, but after a while the glass will be frosty and beautiful, allowing you to send a message to all the neighbourhood. 

Please be responsible and only etch your own windows. Remember that it is permanent, so don’t cover the whole windscreen of your car with it if you have an important delivery to do tomorrow! 

So there you have it, if rock tumbling is just too loud and Robert next door keeps calling the council with noise complaints, consider trying glass etching!

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ACTIVISTS LIBERATE TWO PUPPIES FROM AN ABUSIVE BREEDER.

July, Copenhagen, Denmark.

received anonymously via email:

“Neighbors to a person who has a small puppy mill in their home, had countless times contacted police and animal shelters to get help, since they witnessed extreme abuse of dogs, but to no surprise, these entities were of no help. The “breeder” would leave the dogs on their balcony in high temperature for days, the neighbors could hear constant yelling at the dogs, and on the rare occasion that the dogs were taken for walks, neighbors witnessed them being kicked and beaten.

Activists were able to liberate 2 puppies from this horrible situation. One of the puppies had a broken tail, presumably as a result of violent abuse. Both puppies now have loving homes.

Cases of extreme abuse are not rare when it comes to animal exploitation, no matter if it is in a factory farm or in a puppy mill. However, all “breeding” of animals is exploitation and abuse and should be abolished, whether the exploitation includes explicit violence or not.

We hope more dogs will be rescued and liberated from this horrible human.

Picture of the two puppies when they lived on the balcony (in circle you see the broken tail of the one puppy)”

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ANTISPECIESIST ACTIVISTS LIBERATE FOURTY HENS FROM AN INTENSIVE FARM.

6th August, North Italy.

received anonymously via email:

“North of Italy Liberation of 40 hens from an intensive factory. We antispeciest activists have the task of carry out the animal liberation, of allying ourselves with animals that rebel and cry out for their freedom, and fight against against the disproportion of forces that keeps them enslaved and annihilates them every day. Direct action is both an action of necessary release of prisoners, and a political act against the structures of domination which are not unassailable and indeed ask us to multiply our incursions and our forces. “

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WRITING TO PRISONERS

People living in cages can easily get depressed, who would have thought? Prisoners are forced to live away from their social support, family/friends might not visit often, they might not get along well with cellmates. Humans are social animals, we need connection to survive. After being forced through the justice system, prisoners deserve better. One of the things we can do to help is write to them, here are the basics on how to do that!

Before you get to writing here’s some things to know:

Be aware that some prisons restrict the number of letters a prisoner can write/receive, so you won’t always get a reply. Prisoners might also not have access to stamps or envelopes (you can try sending stamps with your letter).

Letters can be read by guards before being given to the prisoner, so don’t write anything you wouldn’t want them to see. Don’t draw any imagery that could be considered “gang related” (the anarchy symbol is included in this unfortunately).

Make sure you include a return address, some prisons won’t accept letters without them (it doesn’t have to be your address). Use clean plain paper and new envelopes. Don’t glue any pictures to your letter.

When writing for the first time, try and keep it short to avoid overwhelming them. Tell them facts about yourself, who you are, what you do, etc. Let them know about your political views if you want and let them know you support their actions. Lighten things up with stories, don’t be afraid to talk about fun things you’ve done or your everyday life, prison life is boring and hearing about the outside world livens it up.

Looking for prisoners to write? The Unoffensive Animal website has a list under “Prisoner Support”. We also offer the ability to write a letter online that can be sent by us with a donation to cover the costs.

Get out there and make a new friend!

*This PDF is a good resource for extra info, and it’s also where I picked up most of these tips: https://bristolabc.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/writing-to-prisoners.pdf

Solidarity

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SO YOU’RE TAKING A PHONE TO A PROTEST: PART 3

[ Previous Tech&Sec articles can be found on our website: https://unoffensiveanimal.is/category/technology-security-101/ ]

In the last episode we talked about burner phones and that you should not turn them on next to your personal phone. Today, we are going to discuss IMEI and IMSI, which should explain not only WHY you shouldn’t do that, but also why you should consider what other devices are around yours when you have your phone on!

IMEI and IMSI are both ID numbers. Whilst there are ways of spoofing them (making them different), they are not common for everyday activists, and for all purposes in this article we will understand IMEI and IMSI as unchangeable IDs, like human fingerprints! IMEI is the fingerprint ID of your device (a phone, a wifi camera, a tracker), whilst IMSI is the fingerprint ID of the SIM card installed in that device. If you have a phone and change the SIM card, your IMEI number will stay the same. If you buy a new phone but still use the same SIM card as before, you are transferring the IMSI number to a different device.

Both numbers are used by cell companies to identify who is requesting a call or a text or the use of data. They also have another use which is a lot more concerning for our privacy and security. Using those IDs, cell companies can triangulate the location of your device, even if the location is turned off in your smartphone! The accuracy of the triangulation will depend on how many towers your device is able to connect to, which makes things somewhat easier in more built up areas where there are more towers and a little more difficult in the countryside, where the triangulation MIGHT give a much more general location.

This location triangulation is used by the police regularly in order to establish if YOU were at a specific location or not, or, in case of less common locations, they are able to check what devices where in the area at a specific time to narrow down the investigation to a few people.

If you pay for your phone with anything other than cash, the IMEI and IMSI of your devices is connected to your bank account, which means it is connected to your name and potentially your address. This is why we always recommend to NEVER pay for phone credit (or any other cell service) with anything but cash.

It is also worth noting that the IMEI and IMSI numbers can be used to create association of devices. Let’s say you want to meet with a friend, and you both take the phone with you, but leave it in your respective cars before going for a walk and a chat. If the cars are parked near each other, the filth is now able to deduce you two met. Equally, if someone is doing an investigation and uses a tracker, the tracker too has IMEI and IMSI IDs, so if they travel with their phone and the tracker on, those two devices are being registered by the cell towers as “together”.

Here are a few bits of advice:

  • If you must take your phone with you but you do not want the cell towers to triangulate your location, consider turning it off AND putting it inside of a faraday bag well away from your meeting point. This should stop all connectivity, thus stopping the tracking of the IMEI/IMSI.
  • Both SIMs and devices should be recycled regularly. Your IMEI creates a map of your locations and a map of your relationships, so sell your phone every six months and get a different one. If you’re buying used, you should manage to buy/sell with little loss or maybe a little profit! You should do the same with your SIM card and never transfer your actual telephone number. They should be refreshed at the same time.
  • Don’t carry trackers or wifi cameras or other SIM devices alongside your phone unless you are isolating them separately with faraday bags.

Stay safe, and stay dangerous!

Your local anarchist cyber-counsellor.

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USA FUR INDUSTRY ON ITS KNEES, SALES DROPPING AND FRESH TARGETS – THE FRONTLINES.

The fur industry keeps receiving blows. From aboveground campaigning with CAFT in the USA and throughout Europe by many autonomous groups to underground activity by anonymous folks who during the pelting season last year released mink in multiple farms across USA and who kept striking through sabotage over winter.

Now, NAALPO has released last year’s sales figures and things are looking quite bleak:

“The US Department of Agriculture has just released statistics on US fur production for 2022. There has been a 15% reduction in the number of animals killed for their fur since 2021. Total value of the animal skins was down 17% from the previous year, and the price per skin was only $29.40, down another $0.60 from 2021.

Importantly, the number of female mink bred to produce the 2023 population was down 31%, foretelling another significant decrease in deaths expected for 2023.

The fur industry in the US is on the ropes, and we can finish it off. More economic sabotage and farm liberations, combined with continued forceful campaigning to stop designers and retailers from dealing in this barbaric trade will abolish the fur industry in the US.”

Meanwhile, an anonymous submission to Unsalted CounterInfo leaked a list of smallholding fox fur farms in the USA:

“An estimated 25 to 50 fox farms remain in the United States. These are a few of the backyard operations confining and killing foxes, a genetically wild species native to North America:

Schmuecker Fox Farm
7796 15th Avenue Trail
Luzerne, IA 52257

Price Fox Farm
4850 Highway 141
Norris City, IL 62869

Natural Fibers (Joe & Marie McFadden)
17519 L Drive S
Marshall, MI 49068

Fox Haven (James & Judith Brown)
1806 E Hinchman Road
Berrien Springs, MI 49103

Matthew Kieffer Fox Farm
6896 Partridge Road
Pierz, MN 56364

Coats of Many Colors Fox Ranch (Jean Glass)
37493 378th Street
Richville, MN 56576

Fredrick Halvorson
39306 Highway 52
Cannon Falls, MN 55009

Mid-Missouri Fox Farm (David W. Moyer)
12640 Derstler Road
Richmond, MO 64085

Sky Dog Ranch (Sky & Eileen Halsey)
6913 US Highway 12
Martinsdale, MT 59053

John and Peggy Smeal
963 County Road F
Scribner, NE 68057

Circle R Fox Ranch (William Ridenour)
1895 Riggle Road
Bellville, OH 44813

Grand River Fur Exchange (Mark Gutman)
6310 US Highway 6
Rome, OH 44085
Fox farm & urine farm (urine is collected from captive coyotes and foxes to create lures for trappers.)”

With so much ramping up against fur farming, how much longer does the fur industry have before it collapses? What are the most important targets that would bring it down? What is the critical infrastructure that upholds the fur industry, and how can you fight to send it into oblivion? 



Fight back! 



UA.

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SOME VALVE TURNERS CLOSE ENBRIDGE’S LINE 5 PIPELINE.

25th July, Anishinaabae Land.

via: Unsalted CounterInfo

[photo unrelated to the action]

“Reportback from some valve turners:

It is with a heavy heart and hazy skies we announce that 2 different pipeline valves were turned off along the Line 5 route on Anishinaabae land in the great lakes region.This was done on the 13th anniversary of the Kalamazoo River oil spill.This was the 2nd largest inland oil spill in amerikkkan history, dumping 1,000,000 gallons of tar sands crude oil into the river and causing untold damage to the water, land and those who live on it.

Currently, Enbridge is preparing to construct a concrete tunnel beneath the waters of the so-called Great Lakes to house a dual pipeline system in order to increase flow rates and carry even more tar sands from the lands of the north to refineries in the south.The Straits tunnel project is meant to replace a 70 year old pipe that is hastily secured to the bottom of the lake bed, even free floating in some areas.

Enbridge claims that the tunnel is safe, but a tunnel project beneath the straits is a resource intensive project. The tar sands would continue to be extracted, desecrating the land in northern geographies. The refineries in the south still pumping out toxic fumes that pollute nearby Black neighborhoods. The camps of workers near both the straits and the Bad River reroute still disappearing Indigenous women and relatives.The companies that rely on Enbridge oil still operating in the towns and cities, underpaying workers and enacting anti-Black and anti-Indigenous violence in nearby communities.The tunnel itself, bored through the bedrock beneath the water, containing two high-volume pipelines transporting millions of barrels of oil monthly, operated by a company with a long history of environmental catastrophe.

It’s easy to turn a valve. Every 10 or so miles along the pipeline route there is a pump station. Some of these pump stations are larger than others, some containing more of Enbridge’s infrastructure like work trucks, electrical stations, dynamic machinery, communication systems, and field offices. For us, we found pump stations that simply contained a valve and a small brick structure that contains basic comms and electrical components. Many of these places are remote, with response times that vary from 20 minutes to over an hour. Pump stations often contain a high-definition camera with a motion sensor mounted looking directly at the valve. When the motion sensor is triggered,the structure becomes heavily illuminated by flood lights and begins recording. Nothing some spray paint cant fix! The structures are always surrounded by a fence and are positioned next to or on top of a service road. The pipeline route is easy to see from a satellite image, as it cuts a clear path through the forest. The valve itself sometimes has a nut that is fitted with a large wrench and turned clockwise until you hear a series of musical notes, indicating that the pressure in the pipe has changed. At some valves, there was actually a big red button that just said STOP, which stops flow immediately. For us, we found it incredibly inportant to call the emergency Enbridge number listed on the facility and tell them we were shutting off the valve. The engineer on the other side of the line sounded very panicked, and immediately shut off flow to the entirity of Line 5. We did this 5 minutes before actually turning the valve, to ensure that the shut down would happen safely, obviously oil spills aren’t something we want to happen as a result of our actions.

In order to protect the water, the land and all the relatives that live on it, companies like Enbridge must stop extractive projects like tar sands. They must stop the flow of oil, because all of our lives depend on it.

And if they don’t, we will”

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REMEMBERING LOBO, A REVOLUTIONARY, A COMRADE, A FRIEND.

Last week we heard that Lobo, known in Rojava as Elefteria Hambi, was martyred in Syria. After joining the YPJ in 2018 they moved to the mountains where they joined the YJA Star guerrillas and on the 25th of November 2019, they were murdered by the Turkish state during an airstrike. The news of their martyrdom was not made public until today.

Photo credit: IG @nehahirve
photo credit: IG @nehahirve

Lobo was without a doubt the bravest person I have ever met. For security reasons details will be spared on a public forum but we are aware of their involvement in some of the harshest and most catastrophic blows to those involved in the destruction of the earth and those perpetuating fascist ideologies in Europe in the last decade. They understood diversity of tactics not as a reminder that organising a demo or Food not Bombs was also a great way to fight against capitalism. They understood diversity of tactics as an invitation to imagine how much harder you can hit against the enemy that destroys this planet, the enemy that exploits the people in it and the enemy who abuses the animals that inhabit it. They were not worried about raising the bar and making those who destroy us feel what they need to feel.

Lobo was an exceptionally intelligent human being. I met them in Hambacher Forst, where we quickly gravitated to each other. They were reserved and I never learnt much about their personal life, but I slowly uncovered that they spoke six languages (which made for very useful communication when the cops were around!), that they were extremely fast doing maths in their brain and that they had read every book possible, yet they did not speak about theory and instead allowed their fight to embody their philosophy. We spent many days fighting, and many nights dreaming of a better world. We spent many weeks plotting and discovering ways to keep battling against RWE. They were by far my best accomplice in the woods.

One morning, when the police were putting pressure and attempting to evict barricades in the forest, Lobo was arrested. They had glued themselves to the platform of a tripod that stood in the way of the police, so cops had to cut around their hand and arrest Lobo attached to a huge plank of wood. When they arrived at the cop shop they fought multiple cops at once who were trying to remove the plank of wood with baby oil. By the time the plank came off every single cop was on the floor, covered in baby oil, and both of the fingerprint machines the cop shop had were completely destroyed. Even in captivity, Lobo would fight back. I was nicked whilst doing arrest support for them and saw the aftermath of that fight. The cop shop had no way of collecting any biometrics that day.

When we were released, Lobo realised that I had also been nicked just waiting for them outside the cop shop. They said, “That’s cute, let’s go steal some chocolate so I can do arrest support for you!”. Always cheery, savouring every victory, plotting the next solidarity attack.

When the government issued the first attack on Unoffensive Animal Lobo was there, shoulder to shoulder on a laptop, building back up the socials, the website, the fundraising options, and reassuring me that they wouldn’t just take the platform down. They believed in total liberation, they were an animal liberationist, and they embodied solidarity.

They have been missed for a long time, but now being certain of their martyrdom, they will be missed even more. Make no mistake, martyrs never die, but the struggle is going to have to do a lot more effort in order to fill the gap that Lobo leaves in the struggle.

They loved the animals, the trees and the fight.

I will howl at the moon for you every time something goes up in flames. We fight in your memory. We love you greatly.

Şehid Namirin

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FIRE DESTROYS A MINK FARM STORAGE BARN.

via: NAALPO

Delayed Report, 21st October, 2022, Oregon USA.

“Delayed Report:

The fire destroyed a storage barn at Ruef Mink Farm, 12305 Ruef Lane, in Mt. Angel, Oregon on October 21, 2022. Officer Rossi said the 20,000 square foot barn was a total loss. The source of the fire remains under investigation. No communique claiming the action has thus far been received by the North American Animal Liberation Press Office.”