Aspect 3: Physical security

Physical security

Carlos Latuff, Copyrighted free use, via Wikimedia Commons

Digital security can be crucial in order to stop ourselves from falling into physical harm (or emotional harm, which we'll look at below). If we can stop or limit surveillance, it will also make it harder for people who wish to harm or arrest us to track us down. At the same time, there are some other steps we could take to further improve our physical security. Those might include:

• If possible, make sure that your home and office are protected by good locks and maybe a security system. If you trust people with whom you share a home or your neighbors, you can also ask them to tell you if there has been anything unusual going on or if anyone has been looking for you

• If you suspect that somebody might be regularly following you or trying to surveil you, take a slightly different route whenever you leave your home or return to it, and change some of the places where you hang out. This will make it significantly harder for anyone to surveil you and they will require many more resources to do so. If you are traveling in a vehicle and think that somebody is following you, make four left turns or four right turns—if someone is still behind you, this means that they are following you

• Trust your gut and intuition. If you are in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable and it's safe and possible to leave or change locations, then do so. In many cases, it might be safer to meet people you don't trust in more public locations. If you have a meeting with somebody you don't trust or one that you are worried about, it's a good idea to come early and figure out what safe exits the building or road you are meeting at has

• When you are around people you don't trust, keep a safe distance and personal space between them. If you are too close, they could easily yell at you or even try to hit you. Be particularly careful when around people who might be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, since they are even more unpredictable

• Get a privacy screen for your phone and other electronic devices so people cannot easily look over your shoulder and see what you are doing on your screen

Sit down with others within your community to figure out what physical security norms others take. Don't forget that physical security rules can change drastically between regions, situations, and communities—what might work for one person might not work for another.