About This Site
We started Activist Checklist because we were seeing a lot of confusion and inaction around digital security practices in Palestine solidarity organizing. We began our research mid-2024 in anticipation that Trump might get elected again and that we'd see a rise in authoritarianism, state surveillance, and repression of social movements.
As activists ourselves, we understood the importance of protecting our digital lives, but we also saw how overwhelming it could be.
Why we built this site
Looking around, we found that existing resources were either too simple or too complicated.
Right before a direct action, we'd often get a list from the organizers of "things to do to secure your phone" that seemed incomplete and out of date.
On the flip side, the in-depth guides we found online went into so much detail that they become overwhelming for many.
We wanted to create a way for folks to achieve better security without needing to become experts themselves. We created this site to be a comprehensive approach that wouldn't make your eyes glaze over.
Who built this
The crew that built this has been doing community organizing, activism, and direct actions for most of our adult lives. We have been involved in organizing around Palestine, climate justice, Black Lives Matter, local mutual aid, anarchism, and more.
One of our teammates has been employed by multiple direct action and legal organizations as their on-staff digital security expert.
We're currently choosing to remain anonymous in an attempt to preserve our own privacy.
Our sources
We draw on a number of sources, and we evaluate them
Here are some of the sources we go to for recommendations:
PrivacyGuides.org: Exceptionally well-researched privacy recommendations and resources created by a community of contributors
Electronic Frontier Foundation's Surveillance Self-Defense guide and Street-Level Surveillance project
Equality Lab's Anti-Doxing Guide
Frontline Defender's Security In-A-Box
Tactical Tech's Holistic Security Manual
We track the latest by following The Intercept, CitizenLab, EFF, 404 Media, Wired, The Verge, and many others.
We'd love your feedback
We're proud of what we've built, but we know there's a lot more we can do to make it accessible and useful to our movements. If you have thoughts on the tools we recommend or how we present them, we'd love to hear them. We want this to evolve as technology and threats change.