Field guides · practical, step by step

Guides

How to actually do this: pick a messenger, hold your own keys, set up a mesh, publish a site nobody can take down. Guides are written to be followed, with the trade-offs named.

Bitcoin Self-Custody, Step by StepNot your keys, not your coins. Holding your own keys is simple; holding them safely, privately and recoverably takes a plan. intermediate 2-4 hours Build a community Wi-Fi networkBegin with a small, maintainable network whose local services still have a purpose when the upstream connection fails. intermediate None Building a Local Mesh NetworkA few cheap radios and a phone app give you a text network that needs no towers, no SIM cards and no internet. beginner 2 hours Building a ZK membership proofProve that an accepted group member submitted a message without naming the member. intermediate None Choosing a Secure MessengerEvery serious messenger encrypts content. They differ in what they require from you, what their servers learn, and whether they work when the internet does not. beginner 15 minutes Deploying on decentralized computeRent compute with an exit plan, a reviewed manifest and a clear boundary around the provider's access. intermediate None Encrypting Files, Disks and BackupsEncryption at rest is what stands between a seized or stolen device and everything on it. beginner 1 hour Getting Around Internet CensorshipCensorship is an arms race between detection and disguise. Knowing which technique a censor is using tells you which tool will work. intermediate 30 minutes Getting Started on Nostr SafelyOn Nostr your identity is a key pair, not an account. Nobody can ban you from the protocol, and nobody can recover your key if you lose it. beginner 30 minutes Hardening a Phone with GrapheneOSYour phone knows more about you than anyone. GrapheneOS is a hardened, de-Googled Android that keeps it working for you. intermediate 1 hour Internet Shutdown PreparednessWhen the network is switched off, the only tools that work are the ones you installed, tested and shared before it happened. beginner 1-2 hours to prepare Migrating to Hybrid Key ExchangeOperational guide to migrating real systems to post-quantum cryptography. Most engineers don't need to understand Module-LWE. They need to know which version of OpenSSL to install, when to enable PQ in their TLS profile, and what data to re-encrypt. This file is that. Guide None Nostr Key Custody and RecoveryThe hard part of key-rooted identity is not generating a key. It is keeping the key usable for years without turning every phone, web app, browser extension, and backup file into an account-takeover risk. Nostr is the best live laboratory for this problem because the public key is the account. Guide None Private File Sync and BackupMaintain useful working copies, limit what a remote storage host can read, and preserve a way back from mistakes. intermediate None Publishing an Uncensorable WebsiteEvery single point of control is a point of censorship. Remove them one by one: the host, the domain, the location of the server, the format. advanced half a day Reducing Tracking: Browsers, DNS and FingerprintingMost surveillance is commercial and automatic. A few changes to your browser and network remove most of it. beginner 30 minutes Resilient and Relocatable InfrastructureThe networks on this site are only as strong as the infrastructure behind them. Here is how to run yours so that losing any one machine, provider or jurisdiction does not take it down. intermediate a weekend to set up, ongoing to run Responding to Suspected Device CompromiseMove sensitive activity somewhere safer, record what happened and get help before making changes that could erase evidence or alert an attacker. intermediate None Run a private circumvention server for people you knowChoose who can connect, explain what you can observe, and practise replacing the server before someone depends on it. intermediate An afternoon, plus ongoing maintenance Running Infrastructure for FreedomEvery one of these networks is only as strong as the number of independent people running it. Here is how to become one of them. intermediate 10 minutes to a weekend Sanitizing Documents Before SharingMetadata cleanup, safe rendering and redaction solve different problems. Use the right step for each, then inspect the actual file you will send. intermediate None Tails, Qubes OS and WhonixWhen a single mistake or a single exploit would be catastrophic, the operating system has to enforce the discipline for you. intermediate 1-3 hours Threat Modeling for Sovereign IndividualsBefore choosing a single tool, write down what you are protecting, who you are protecting it from, and what failure would cost you. beginner 45 minutes Using Tor SafelyTor hides where you are from the sites you visit and hides what you visit from your network. These are the habits that keep it working. beginner 20 minutes Verify software before installing itConfirm who signed the bytes you will run, then ask whether those bytes can be rebuilt from the published source. intermediate None Verifying a confidential workloadRelease a test secret only after the workload, hardware evidence and communication channel satisfy your policy. advanced None