Checklist


Print this page (Ctrl+P / ⌘P) for a paper checklist.

Level 1: See Clearly

Chapter 1 — See Yourself

  • Check your location history (iPhone: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations; Android: Google Maps > profile > Your Timeline)
  • Review how far back the data goes and how precise it is
  • Record what you found in your field journal — don’t change anything yet

Chapter 2 — The Invisible Auction

  • Delete your advertising ID (Android: Settings > Privacy > Ads > Delete advertising ID; iPhone: Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking > disable “Allow Apps to Request to Track,” then Apple Advertising > disable Personalized Ads)
  • Audit app location permissions — change “Always” to “While Using App” or “Never” for every app that doesn’t need real-time location
  • Set up your field journal: a paper notebook or a local-first tool like Obsidian or Logseq (not cloud-based)
  • Record what you’ve done so far and what you found
  • Look up the monsignor case study through independent lateral research

Chapter 3 — What Are You Actually Protecting?

  • Answer the five threat-modeling questions in your field journal: What do I have worth protecting? Who might want access? How likely is it? How bad would it be? How much trouble am I willing to go through?
  • Be specific — name actual data, actual people, actual scenarios
  • Identify your tier (1, 2, or 3) based on your honest assessment

Chapter 4 — Your Passwords Are Already For Sale

  • Check haveibeenpwned.com with your primary email address
  • Install Bitwarden (or 1Password) on your phone and primary browser
  • Create a strong master password: a passphrase of 4–5 random words, written on paper until memorized
  • Generate a new unique password for your email account using Bitwarden
  • Enable two-factor authentication on your email — use an authenticator app over SMS
  • If Tier 2 or 3: look into getting a hardware security key (YubiKey)
  • Record which breaches appeared, your email’s new 2FA status, and accounts still using reused passwords
  • Begin the slow migration: every time you log into a site, change the password to one Bitwarden generates

Chapter 5 — Who’s Listening?

  • Install Signal on your phone
  • Move one important conversation to Signal
  • Enable disappearing messages (tap contact name > set to 1 week)
  • Enable Registration Lock (Settings > Account > Registration Lock)
  • Record who you moved to Signal, what resistance you encountered, what persuasion worked

Chapter 6 — The Watchers

  • Search “[your city] Flock Safety” or “[your county] ALPR” for automated license plate readers
  • Check the EFF’s Street-Level Surveillance atlas (atlas.eff.org)
  • Write what you find in your field journal

Chapter 7 — COINTELPRO Never Ended

  • Read the ACLU Know Your Rights overview (aclu.org/know-your-rights)
  • Memorize and write down four phrases: “Am I free to go?” / “I do not consent to this search.” / “I am exercising my right to remain silent.” / “I want to speak to a lawyer.”

Chapter 8 — You Are Not Hard to Find

  • Search yourself on TruePeopleSearch.com — record what the site has on you
  • Search yourself on Spokeo.com — record what it has on you
  • Google yourself: full name + city, name + phone number, name + email address
  • Opt out of TruePeopleSearch (bottom of homepage > “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information”)
  • Opt out of Spokeo (spokeo.com/optout)
  • Opt out of Whitepages, BeenVerified, and Radaris
  • Use a disposable email for opt-outs if possible
  • Set up Google “Results About You” (myactivity.google.com/results-about-you)
  • If Tier 2 or 3: run the free Optery scan (optery.com)
  • Audit your usernames across platforms for reuse and real-name connections
  • Record what you found, what you’ve requested removal from, and what’s outstanding

Chapter 9 — Your Browser Is a Fingerprint

  • Test your browser fingerprint at coveryourtracks.eff.org — record the result
  • Install uBlock Origin on Firefox
  • If still using Chrome: switch to Firefox
  • Switch your default search engine to DuckDuckGo
  • Re-run the fingerprint test after changes and compare results
  • If Tier 2 or 3: enable Enhanced Tracking Protection in strict mode
  • If Tier 2 or 3: try Firefox Multi-Account Containers
  • If Tier 2 or 3: enable DNS over HTTPS in Firefox
  • If considering a VPN: use Mullvad or ProtonVPN

Chapter 10 — Seeing Through the Noise

  • Find a claim on social media that makes you feel something — write down what it claims, who made it, and what evidence is presented (do not share or react)
  • Apply the SIFT framework: Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace claims to origin
  • Practice SIFT on two more claims this week — one from a source you trust, one you don’t
  • Set up a family code word for phone identity verification (defense against AI voice cloning)
  • Bookmark primary source repositories: PACER, congress.gov, fbi.gov/vault, your state judiciary’s court records

Chapter 11 — When to Worry and When to Live

  • Build your personal security checklist with three sections: permanent changes, scheduled maintenance (with frequency), and situational activations (with triggers)
  • Set recurring calendar reminders for maintenance items (quarterly data broker opt-outs, app permission audits, HIBP checks, device updates)
  • Review your checklist against the work from Chapters 2–10

Chapter 12 — The Hardest Skill

  • Install Signal with one person who doesn’t have it yet — do it together, in person or on a call
  • Move one existing group chat to Signal
  • Teach one concept from this book to someone who hasn’t read it
  • Record who you talked to, what you shared, how it landed, what resistance you encountered
  • Complete the Level 1 self-assessment: field journal with threat model and security checklist; Signal with at least one active conversation; at least one teaching interaction documented; maintenance schedule set with calendar reminders

Level 2: Find Each Other

Chapter 13 — The First Conversation

  • Conduct a one-to-one relational meeting with your Level 1 partner (45 minutes)
  • Each person gets 15 minutes of uninterrupted speaking: Why do you care? What are you afraid of? What do you want to protect?
  • Spend 10–15 minutes in open conversation about what you heard
  • Record an impression in your field journal — what moved your partner, where concerns overlap, where they diverge
  • Sit with the conversation for a day before moving on

Chapter 14 — Security Is a Conversation Now

  • Share relevant parts of your individual threat models with your partner
  • Identify your shared security floor — the minimum practices you both commit to
  • Establish the starting floor: Signal with disappearing messages, alphanumeric passcode, current OS, notification previews off
  • Agree on information boundaries: who knows about the partnership, what stays private
  • Write the shared security floor down — both partners keep a copy
  • Test the floor: Signal message with disappearing messages, verify Safety Numbers via QR code, confirm notification previews off
  • Record what the conversation was like and what surprised you about your partner’s risk tolerance

Chapter 15 — How to See Your Neighborhood

  • Each partner independently lists at least five people who have expressed concern about something local
  • Map places where people gather face-to-face: churches, community centers, parks, diners, libraries, bleachers
  • Identify what’s already happening: neighborhood associations, mutual aid groups, PTAs, community gardens
  • Map at least ten potential people between you
  • Compare maps — identify overlaps and divergences
  • Write the map in your field journal — analog, not digital
  • Note who has signaled readiness for more than complaining

Chapter 16 — The Approach

  • Pick one person from your network map
  • Talk to them in person — not text, not DM, not email
  • Start with a local observation; listen for what they care about
  • Share what you’ve been doing when it feels honest — don’t mention the journal, the model, or any program
  • Invite curiosity, not commitment: “Would you want to talk more about this sometime?”
  • If they say no, accept it gracefully
  • Run the anti-manipulation check: Am I genuinely curious? Would I be fine if they said no? Am I sharing something true?
  • Debrief with your partner — what happened, what surprised you
  • Write in your field journal what you heard, not what you said

Chapter 17 — What You’re Building (And What Breaks It)

  • Write a shared purpose statement with your partner — one sentence: “We’re here because…”
  • Agree on three ground rules: one person speaks at a time; what’s shared stays here; when you disagree, say what you need
  • Write the purpose statement and ground rules down physically
  • Print the first-meeting script and bring it
  • Assign three rotating roles: facilitator, note-taker, process-checker
  • Hold the first meeting using the script: Opening (2 min), Go-Round #1 (15 min), Go-Round #2 (15 min), Prioritize (10 min), Closing (5 min)
  • Write in your field journal: What worked? What was awkward? What surprised you?

Chapter 18 — The First Meeting

  • Hold the first group meeting — three people, in person if possible
  • Start and end on time
  • Use all three roles: facilitator, note-taker, process-checker
  • Bring food or drinks
  • Each person writes individually in their field journal afterward
  • Compare journal observations before the next meeting
  • Assign the next facilitator before leaving; rotate all three roles

Chapter 19 — Security Culture Is Care

  • Hold a meeting focused on group security — four conversations: communication platform, information boundaries, breach protocol, security champion
  • Get everyone on Signal; hold a setup party to configure it together
  • Enable disappearing messages (one week); verify Safety Numbers in person
  • Agree on information boundaries and write them down
  • Agree on blameless breach response: acknowledge, identify what made the mistake easy, adjust practices
  • Assign a security champion for the first month (rotates monthly)
  • Add all security agreements to your group’s operating document

Chapter 20 — The Platform Move

  • If migrating: set up Signal group, hold setup party, configure all settings, verify Safety Numbers, set a sunset date for the old channel, delete the old group on that date
  • If already on Signal: run a group audit — walk through every setting together
  • Re-verify Safety Numbers with each person
  • Record in your field journal: Did everyone move? Was there resistance? How did it resolve?

Chapter 21 — The Groan Zone

  • Practice the consensus spectrum at your next meeting on a real decision: Agree, Reservations, Stand Aside, or Block
  • Write group agreements together: How do we handle disagreement? What happens when someone is upset? How do we handle political disagreements? What happens when someone breaks a norm?
  • Add agreements to your operating document
  • Record: Did the group use the consensus spectrum? Did anyone block or stand aside?

Chapter 22 — Growing Without Breaking

  • Identify two potential new members, each vouched for by a current member
  • Conduct a one-to-one conversation with each candidate (Chapter 13 format)
  • Share operating documents with new members before their first meeting
  • Have the new person participate in a meeting
  • Do a low-stakes shared activity with the new person
  • Debrief as a group after each addition
  • Pause between additions — stabilize before growing further
  • Record: Who did you bring in? What changed when the group grew?

Chapter 23 — Who We Are (And How We Work)

  • Run Story of Self: each person gets 2 minutes (challenge, choice, outcome)
  • Run Story of Us: 15 minutes answering — What brought us together? What do we share? What are we building?
  • Write down your Story of Us — something any member could tell a stranger in sixty seconds
  • Formalize five infrastructure elements: role rotation schedule, fixed meeting rhythm, social element, accountability practice (“Who is doing what by when?”), debrief protocol (four questions on a card)
  • Write infrastructure into your operating document
  • Record: What was it like to hear five stories? Did the group resist any structural elements?

Chapter 24 — Teaching Each Other

  • Hold a skill share: each person teaches something (15 min teach, 10 min practice, 5 min discuss)
  • Use the popular education sequence: ask what the group knows, fill gaps, practice together
  • Collaboratively write a one-page “first steps” guide for new members — plain language, no jargon
  • Revisit and update the guide after a week
  • Record: What did each person teach? What surprised you? What’s on the first-steps guide?

Chapter 25 — What Keeps You Together

  • Hold an identity conversation (30 min): What brought us together? What keeps us together if urgency fades? What are we building that matters regardless?
  • Write the answers as the group’s anchor document
  • Discuss each person’s actual motivations for attending — name them honestly and write them down
  • Make contact with one existing organization in your community
  • Attend one of their meetings or events; introduce yourselves as neighbors
  • Report back: What did you learn? Is there overlap? Do you trust them?
  • Record: What surprised you in the identity conversation? Who did you connect with?

Chapter 26 — What Five People Can Do

  • Complete a collective action: skill share, mutual aid delivery, community listening session, or group attendance at a public meeting
  • Plan the action using all Level 2 skills: facilitation, roles, security culture, decision-making, coordination
  • Debrief afterward: What did we try? What worked? What was hard? What next?
  • Continue outward connections — attend events, map who’s working in your area
  • When encountering other groups, assess how they work, not just what they say
  • Write your answer to “What would you tell someone just starting?”

Level 3: Build Together

Chapter 27 — Two Circles

  • Identify another group through behavioral recognition in shared civic spaces
  • Designate boundary-spanners (ideally two per group)
  • Decide as a group: what boundary-spanners can share, what you want to learn, what they cannot commit to
  • Conduct at least two boundary-spanner meetings using the first-contact protocol (four questions: how did your group come together, what are you working on, what’s been hard, what does your community need)
  • Return to your group and report honestly on the other group’s practices
  • Record observations: alignment, misalignment, open questions

Chapter 28 — Shared Ground, Separate Rooms

  • Each group designates a liaison; discuss role, boundaries, and rotation cadence with your full group first
  • Liaisons create a shared Signal channel (just the two liaisons) with disappearing messages, notification previews off, Safety Numbers verified in person
  • Conduct a shared threat model conversation: where does coordination create exposure, what information creates risk, what stays internal
  • Write an inter-group information-sharing agreement using three categories: flows between groups, stays internal, requires consent
  • Both groups keep a copy
  • Review the agreement after your first joint action and adjust

Chapter 29 — Do Something Small Together

  • Plan a joint action using the Midwest Academy Strategy Chart — small enough to succeed
  • Divide responsibilities explicitly between both groups; document the division
  • Execute the action
  • Run a joint debrief within 48 hours (five questions: what did we try, what worked, what was hard, what would we change, what did we learn about working together)
  • Record debrief findings: what you learned about working together, what you’d change

Chapter 30 — Decisions Without a Boss

  • At a joint meeting, adopt consent-based decision-making through a spokes council; designate spokes, define mandates, set rotation and cadence
  • Map decision domains together: internal, joint, individual, gray areas — spend real time on the gray areas
  • Practice a real consent decision through the spokes council
  • Write a coalition agreement: who’s in, how decisions are made, what’s shared vs. autonomous, how disagreements are handled, how the agreement changes
  • File governance documents in the field journal

Chapter 31 — The Landscape Around You

  • At a joint meeting, map your institutional landscape: name, constituency, overlap, engagement history, partnership opportunity, co-optation risk
  • Make one institutional contact as a network — attend an event, invite a representative, or propose a collaboration
  • Check the ICNL US Protest Law Tracker for your state
  • Download and distribute ACLU Know Your Rights guides to all network members
  • Identify your nearest NLG chapter and local legal aid organizations
  • Conduct a 30-minute legal orientation at a joint meeting
  • Document the institutional map, legal resources, and notes from your first institutional contact

Chapter 32 — What Holds When It’s Hard

  • Conduct a network health check: workload distribution, operating pace, what’s working, who’s close to stepping back, what absorbs a transition
  • Document results and compare to previous assessments (or establish the baseline)
  • Practice the peer mediation protocol — run a simulation with a plausible scenario even if no real conflict exists
  • Walk through the full protocol: separate preparation, opening statements, diagnostic question, resolution spectrum, documented outcome
  • If ready: explore a third-group connection using behavioral recognition and the Chapter 27 protocol
  • Implement rotating coordination roles with explicit descriptions and term limits
  • Build explicit permission to rest into the coalition agreement
  • Name whether the network is at crisis pace or sustaining pace

Chapter 33 — More Than the Sum

  • Identify the two or three government bodies most relevant to your community
  • Assign groups to attend their next meetings on a rotating basis
  • Each observer uses the observation template: date, body, attendance, agenda vs. discussion, decisions, surprises
  • Share observations through the liaison channel
  • Discuss findings at the next spokes council meeting
  • Make civic monitoring a sustainable ongoing rotation
  • File a public records request on a specific issue surfaced by monitoring or community knowledge
  • Share what you file and receive through the liaison channel
  • Add civic monitoring updates as a standing spokes council item

Chapter 34 — Shared Principles, Separate Paths

  • At a joint meeting, write shared principles using four questions: What brought our groups together? What holds us together? What commitments do we share? What do we refuse to do?
  • Aim for three to seven principles; write them together
  • Schedule a review at a defined interval
  • Distribute and discuss Freeman’s “Tyranny of Structurelessness” (jofreeman.com) using three diagnostic questions: Where is informal hierarchy? Where is structure helping? Where is it constraining?
  • If growing: run the onboarding protocol (boundary-spanner meetings, probationary period, shared principles review, consent-based admission)
  • If not growing: revisit and update the coalition agreement
  • Document shared principles — date it, note who was present, note principles that generated significant discussion

Chapter 35 — What You’d Tell Someone Starting

  • Meeting 1: work through four starter kit questions (essential skills, protocols that worked, what you learned the hard way, what you’d tell someone starting); assign drafting teams
  • Each team produces a rough draft before the next meeting
  • Meeting 2: bring sections together, read aloud, discuss gaps and redundancy
  • Meeting 3: incorporate revisions, produce a final version the network agrees on
  • Share through the liaison channel
  • Discuss who beyond the network should receive the starter kit
  • Keep it short enough to read in a single sitting

Chapter 36 — The Path Is People

  • Look at what the network has built — people, practices, infrastructure, connections — and sit with it
  • Write what you would tell the person you were at the beginning
  • Write it for whoever comes next
  • Record a snapshot of the network: groups, projects, functioning systems, unresolved challenges
  • Date the snapshot