Protest threats, detection, protection and (counter) moves

From Gender and Tech Resources

Revision as of 08:59, 10 June 2015 by Lilith2 (Talk | contribs)

This page lists theoretical defenses for selected groups of weapons used by police or military on civilians. This is just a thought experiment covering (theoretical) defenses against these attacks and not intended to spread fear, uncertainty or doubt about dictator and police states. The tables were initially filled with items from excited delirium (a protestor’s guide to “less-lethal” police weaponry) of 2008, then further investigated and added to.

The government just loves technology. They always assume that every problem —whether social, martial, economic, or ecological— is just waiting for some magic device to solve it. This is a another weakness of theirs. The defenses mentioned in these tables should not be relied upon for protection and I make no guarantees to their accuracy. You need to do research in your own environment as to what new developments are and make informed decisions knowing it is impossible to be completely safe. Things move incredibly fast in this arena and I will update these tables when more is found and/or theorised.

Ideally we discuss these exploits and counter moves without the police being privy to those discussion, but that would make spreading possible counter moves too slow for the less-than-lethal development cycle (arms race) and effectively exclude non-techie activists from being able to defend themselves to some extent, so the next best solution is to discuss everything in the open, so everyone knows how they work and how to defend from them, maybe making us all a little safer by using such grounding for reducing our fears, than not discussing them at all.

Electrical

Weapon More information Attacks/Impact Protection
Stun guns (tasers) Stun guns are less-lethal weapons that use electricity to hurt or incapacitate their victims. Both stinger and taser have two modes: 'projectile' and 'drive stun'. In projectile mode, both use Electro-Muscular Disruption (EMD) technology to cause Neuromuscular Incapacitation (NMI) in their targets. After a half-second, the pain is nearly unbearable and causes muscle contractions. After 2-3 seconds, the subject is dazed and dropped to the ground. More than 3 seconds completely disorients a person and causes them to stay on the ground, risking breathing impairment and heart damage.

In drive stun mode, the stun gun runs electricity between two points in the gun itself and becomes, essentially, a cattle prod. This can cause burning, intense pain, and scarring, but is a pain-compliance weapon (as compared to the projectile mode, which will take anyone down, regardless of their pain tolerance).

With the newer tasers, you can’t just allow the prongs to not penetrate into your skin because of their “shaped pulses” that somehow shock you through clothing. It’s

been suggested that you can’t just complete the prongs circuit, because if the prongs are in you, you’ll get shocked and/or burned.

While we’ve found no information on DIY methods being tested, we did run across the commercial product announced early in 2008, only available to law enforcement, military, and manufacturers of products for those two categories. But their patent #7284280 (http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/7284280.html) is online and we can learn from that.

Stun shield Stinger Systems makes a device called "The Ice Shield", an electrically charged riot shield. They come both concave and convex, angled towards or away from the bearer.

They may have become less common since a malfunctioning one allegedly killed a prison guard.

It is unclear if they operate on a purely pain-compliance principle or if they will actually lock up the victims muscular system. Short contacts on shield.
Taser XRep These are basically wireless TASER darts that are fired out of a 12ga shotgun. It has the same NMI as a handheld taser. As soon as the shot leaves the shell, a ripcord activates it and it has 20 seconds of life. Its velocity is 260’ per second and it is intended to be used at ranges of up to 65’. It has 3 fins that deploy as fletching after firing and 4 prongs that stick into you on impact. After impact, part of the body of the thing falls away, still attached by a cord, and 6 more electric barbs spread the shock out further on your body. If you grab at the projectile while it’s in you, the "reflex engagement electrodes" will send the electricity through your hand and arm as well, making it all that much the worse for you. It even has a damn computer in it to make decisions about how to spread out the shock between all of its nasty points to make your life as crappy as possible. Same as for stun guns.

Chemical

Weapon More information Header text Protection
CS Example Example Example
CN Example Example Example
CR Example Example Example
OC (Pepper spray) Example Example Example
PAVA Example Example Example

Impact weapons

Build armour protecting your head, collar and shoulder, and kidneys and knees. Motocross armor is pretty amazing stuff, light and fairly low-profile under other clothing. Reinforce a banner to double as lightweight shield.

Launchers

Weapon More information Header text Protection
Riot guns Example Example Example
Sprays Example Example Example

Projectiles

Weapon More information Header text Protection
Chemical weapon canisters Example Example Example
Muzzle blasts Example Example Example
Rubber balls Example Example Example
Baton rounds Example Example Protect your knees
Bean bags Example Example Example
Pepperballs Example Example Example
Bolo Example Example Example
Flash-bang Example Example Example

Melee

Weapon More information Header text Protection
Batons Example Example Example
Close quarter weapons Example Example Example
Orcutt police nunchaku Example Example Example

Other

Weapon More information Header text Protection
ADS (Pain ray) Example Example Example
Water cannon Example Example Example
Electrified water cannon Example Example Example
Sticky foam Example Example Example
LRAD Example Example Example
MEDUSA Example Example Example
Dazzler Example Example Example
Pulsed energy projectile Example Example Example
Vortex ring gun Example Example Example
Malodorant Example Example Example
Netgun Example Example Example
Modular crowd control munition Example Example Example
LED incapacitator Example Example Example