# What role, if any, could 'old tech' play in resistance movements? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240 "2025-01-22T02:40:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/21 "2025-01-22T14:30:54Z")
[Not moderating] > [@Banksiaman](#): > > Another one that came to mind - Magic slates - the plastic sheet thing that you write on with a stylus and can then lift up to make the drawing go away. I’m not 100% certain about the technology used, but I’ve seen current students using devices like that (well, much more developed than the old flimsy toy ones) to do scratch work. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/22 "2025-01-22T14:39:36Z")
With the old toys there’s a security issue. Yes, they are silent, readily eraseable, and leave no trash that needs secure disposal as e.g. paper post-its would. But every time you write on one, the stylus leaves a trailing dent in the substrate. As long as you’re certain the used tablet never falls into enemy hands you’re good. But if it does, modern techniques could probably recover a lot of whatever had ever been written on it. Oops. A standard security measure from USAF was never write on the top sheet of a bound tablet of paper. Instead peel off the top sheet, set it a hard surface like desk or clipboard, _then_ start writing. That way the subsequent sheets don’t contain recoverable copies of whatever you wrote. I still do that 40 years later even when writing a phone# or “eggs, bread, milk, TP”. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/23 "2025-01-22T18:26:36Z")
What sort of resistance are we talking about? Organizing civil disobedience and other mass tactics can defeat high tech by holding face to face meetings, though the low tech stool and fink and undercover agent are still a problem. But legal resistance need not worry about that. Illegal activities? I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/24 "2025-01-23T00:17:56Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > Is it often sensationalized? More like always sensationalized. It follows a format of trying to accommodate both the woo-woo paranormal in the first half and skeptics in the second half. As though he tries to “Philadelphia Experiment” his cake and have it too. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/25 "2025-01-23T00:38:54Z")
As for old tech and resistance movements, bust out your guitar, write “This Machine Kills Fascists” on it, and start singing and writing songs of social significance. Here’s one to start with [https://youtu.be/VwcKwGS7OSQ?si=5t7HQVRrgyNSfpKJ](https://youtu.be/VwcKwGS7OSQ?si=5t7HQVRrgyNSfpKJ) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/26 "2025-01-23T00:48:28Z")
I’m not an expert on privacy, but with high tech if you use VPNs and Tor browser, that should help cover a lot of your tracks. As far as old tech, just don’t buy any beepers or walkie talkies from Israel. One thing I read that terrorists did to communicate was they wouldn’t send emails. What they’d do is share an email address. One person would log on, write an email in the draft folder and save it. Then the other terrorist in a different location would log into the account and read the draft email. Supposedly this helped prevent the info from being sent over the internet and provided more security (I have no idea how it works or if it works) Governments can put up phony cell towers that your phones connect to during a protest or rebellion. They can use that to gain all your personal information. I’m not sure what the solution to that is, but its a big issue in Hong Kong. We will probably have to take cues and advice from how people in Hong Kong are resisting oppression. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/27 "2025-01-23T00:51:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What or who are you afraid of? > > If the mods, ask them for permission or run the risk of your thread being cornfielded. Neither of those is a bad outcome for you. > > If the secret police, get a grip. > **[Democratic backsliding in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States)** > > Democratic backsliding has been identified as a trend in the United States at the state and national levels in various indices and analyses, primarily during the Jim Crow era and in the 21st century, particularly under Donald Trump. It is "a process of regime change towards autocracy that makes the exercise of political power more arbitrary and repressive and that restricts the space for public contestation and political participation in the process of government selection". > The Jim Crow er... ### National indices [[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States&action=edit§ion=17)] As part of their [Freedom in the World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World) survey series, [Freedom House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House) downgraded the United States’s score significantly in their civil rights and political liberties index between 2010 (94) and 2020 (83), citing the need for 3 main reforms: removing barriers to voting, limiting the influence of money in politics, and establishing independent redistricting commissions.[[106]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-107)[[107]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-108)[[45]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-:3-46) [The Economist Democracy Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index) started the U.S. at the index’s launch in 2006 at an 8.22/10 (full democracy) though the rating started declining in 2010 and dropped to its lowest rating yet of 7.85 in 2021 (flawed democracy[[108]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-109)).[[109]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-110) _The Economist_ cited functioning of government and political culture (both related to polarization) as major reasons for the lower score.[[110]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-111)[[111]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-112) The [V-Dem Democracy indices](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_indices_(V-Dem)) show significant declines from 2016 to 2020.[[112]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-113)[[113]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-FOOTNOTEL%C3%BChrmannLindberg20191097-114) V-Dem has measures on democracy starting in 1789, providing rare historical data to compare backsliding events, though comparing across centuries has challenges.[[114]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-:1-115) V-Dem also scores political parties in an annual illiberalism score, and ranked the Republican Party more similar to authoritarian parties than typical center-right governing parties.[[115]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-116) [International IDEA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_IDEA) labeled the US a “backsliding democracy” after evaluating 2020 and 2021 events, including [January 6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack) and a poorly functioning legislature.[[116]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-117) IDEA’s democracy scores started sliding for the United States in 2016.[[117]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_backsliding_in_the_United_States#cite_note-118) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/28 "2025-01-23T01:59:47Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The Why Files, in “Quantum Armageddon,” says that after encryption is permanently blown by stabilized qubits, confidential business will be written on paper. It shows ancient manual typewriters being dusted off. Mark Zuckerberg still uses papwr notebooks. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240/29 "2025-01-25T21:39:38Z")
This thread reminds me of an old episode of _Leverage_ where the team’s resident hacker discovers, to his horror, that the computer he’s supposed to extract information from is some piece of junk from the 1980s. His usual bag of tricks is useless. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-role-if-any-could-old-tech-play-in-resistance-movements/1013240.md?page=1)