How to safely share protest photos :

Participating In direct action’s is a fun and powerful way to make a difference in your community.

While these actions create memories in our lives and the lives of others, ultimately you may feel compelled to share photos of your participation on social media, below is a quick breakdown on how to do so while protecting the safety of you and those around you.

1: Destructively blur the bodies of people in photographs. While you may not think of it in the moment photos on social media are often used by law enforcement and opposition to identify activists which is both harmful to the individual and the movement. Destructive editing means that the original data is removed in place of new data.

Using a two step process helps ensure the image is altered destructively (i.e. cannot be reverse edited)

2. Remove all meta data from the photo.  Meta data is text information pertaining to an image  that is embedded into the file or contained in a separate file that is associated with it. It can contain geotags (gps location) and device information that if made available will also pose a serious security risk tho those on camera.

An image with meta data removed is often referred to as a FLAT JPG, below are some helpful links to enable these two steps.

TADAA , IOS - Allows users to mask and blur people and faces.

EXIF, IOS - Allows user to remove meta data from an image.

Apple Shortcut - Blurs faces and removes metadata natively on phone. (Does not provide the ability to blur defining features such as clothing).

As always the best way to safely share direct action photos is NOT AT ALL, however if you must, being armed with the knowledge on reducing the risk they pose is power.

Be Safe

*Please note the information on this page is subject to change and is NOT a foolproof way to ensure data security but made to be a starting point and conversation starter.*

updated 6.20