How Hong Kong protesters are using technology to outsmart authorities

The protest movement has put a lot of thought into enabling anonymity. Remaining deliberately leaderless and faceless has prevented shutdown by selective arrests of organisers

In mid-February, the city-state of Hong Kong exploded with a series of protests that continue. Some of the demonstrations have drawn about two million people. That’s an incredibly large number and a very high proportion of the city’s 7.5 million citizens.

This has turned into a cat-and-mouse battle between protesters and the authorities, with both sides using complex combinations of technology. The authorities use cutting-edge surveillance technologies, and data mining to anticipate the build-up of rallies. They use face recognition technology, data-mining and drones to identify individual participants. They use tear-gas and water cannons to break up rallies.

The protesters have adopted