Political activism and resistance is an essential component of any legitimate democracy.  However, more and more people are now facing the real threat of loosing their jobs should their political opinions and actions come to light.
You should never compromise your right to dissent for your job.  However, you don’t have to compromise your job or career to dissent either.  You’ve just got to be safe about it.  VERY safe about it.
However, if your political stances are offending your co-workers or clients, re-think your posts and conversations! 
Resistance is something on everyone’s mind these days.  The political climate is hot and different forms of activism and resistance are cropping up at unprecedented rates.  Many who want to join in or speak out, however, have a very real and very important fear: losing their job.
Many jobs, businesses, and workplaces have political stances that employees may not agree with.  Government bureau jobs and activism in particular have cause for clash, as do jobs that require a high degree of objectivity.  In many cases, voicing dissent or resistance poses a threat to how your loyalty is perceived, and freedom of speech is under attack.  People are starting to fear for their careers and even their lives and freedom.
However, we cannot let our fears silence our voices.  One popular and powerful platform is having a Twitter activist account.  This helps you do your part to speak out and circulate useful insight and information.  Twitter is a platform where you can directly respond to political tweets and engage in a highly public dialogue.  Twitter also collects information on users and this information is available to feds.
If you are in a situation where your political views may cost you your job, there is a solution.  You can create a separate activist twitter account that you must keep completely separate from your personal life.
Here’s how:
  1. Create a new email address that you use only for this account.  Consider non-US email services.
  2. Twitter also requires a phone number.  I suggest using a burner phone or a disposable VoIP number that is NOT Google voice.  NEVER use your smartphone to access this activist Twitter account.
  3. Set up your activist twitter account using Tor from the very beginning.  Tor allows you to browse anonymously.  ALWAYS use Tor when you access this account so that Twitter cannot collect your IP address.
 Once you have your activist Twitter account set up, keep it completely separate from your personal life.  That means keeping it a secret from friends and family.  It also means NEVER interacting with yourself or your friends from this account, NEVER sharing personal photos or screen shots, ALWAYS having a generic avatar, and NEVER responding to direct messages.  It’s even a good idea to consciously change your writing style for this Twitter account.
If you post pictures from your phone, make sure to crop out any information visible that may trace back to your phone or your identity.
When you access this account, only use devices that store data locally.  That means if the device stores its data in the cloud, use a different device.  NEVER use work computers or work networks to access this account because these devices are not covered by your fourth amendment rights and can be seized and searched without your consent.  Companies also often install spyware to monitor employee browsing history, particularly for sites like Twitter and Facebook.  You always want to enable full disk encryption on any devices you use to access your activist twitter account protected with a strong password.
When you make the decision to start an activist account, or any other decision to compartmentalize your life in this way, there are psychological considerations your want to take into account as well.  You are in many ways creating and maintaining a secret identity that you cannot speak freely about.  If this becomes stressful, consider working with a psychologist so you can have a safe space protected by patient confidentiality laws where you can speak freely.
I know this may sound extreme but resistance circles have a phrase, “Your first and last mistake.”  Practice extreme caution from the beginning and don’t slip up.  If you are not ready to fully commit to security, do not start an activist account.  Exposure could cost you your job, and in some cases worse.    It’s important to be able to speak out, and it’s important to be able to do so without fearing for your career and your freedom. We still live in America!