The ¡®Black Lives Matter¡¯ protests in the US is levelling up and now protestors are making use of tech to the best of their ability to help their protests be more effective.?
And now, they¡¯ve shifted to using Google Docs to their advantage.
People are using Google Docs to share information and ideas with thousands of other protesters. The flexibility of editing documents with anyone possessing the link to the document is like a blessing in disguise. Docs is being used to share lists of funds and resources and helping people donate through the right channel.
Reported first by MIT Technology Review, one of the most popular documents that is being scattered around is ¡®Resources for Accountability and Actions for Black Lives¡¯. The doc consists of guidelines to help people to support victims of police brutality, just like George Floyd and others in the past. The sheet is curated by Carlisa Johnson -- a 28-year-old student of journalism at Georgia State University.?
While the document surfaced shortly after the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day, she has been collecting the necessary resources since the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. She had never created a public Google Doc like this, but she also gave reasoning as to why she chose it over Facebook or Twitter.?
She said in a statement to MIT, ¡°Hyperlinks are the most succinct and quickest way to access things, and you can¡¯t do that on Facebook or Twitter. When you say ¡®Contact your representative,¡¯ a lot of people don¡¯t know how to do that.¡± Direct links in the Google Doc make it much easier for people to get involved.¡±
This isn¡¯t the only doc that has managed to get so popular. Another document that¡¯s popular lists resources of protestors as well as organizations that are accepting donations to take the cause forward. It was developed by Indigo -- a pseudonym for the individual behind this.?
Indigo has been trying to keep a track of information on emails or on social media, but he found it to not be as accessible. Even on Twitter if someone forgot to retweet or like it, the post would disappear in a never-ending feed. That¡¯s where Docs came in handy for them.
Sure, Google Docs is free and easily accessible but there are not encrypted like Messaging platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp or Signal. This means the app is also right in the crosshairs for hackers to attack the sheet and completely obliterate the hard work each one of them has gone through to collate relevant data.?
Indigo states, ¡°The threat of hacking is real, especially because Google is free and not by any means encrypted. I¡¯ve created backup documents and have taken all the precautions I can.¡±?
There is also a looming concern if the authorities force Google to hand over the details of its users for investigation, people who have participated on these docs, their information will be out in the open.?as was also?pointed out?in a report by Protocol.?