WHAT IS RUST?

RUST stands for Remote How does it work?

Uprising Support Team. On the day of an action, one of
The vision for RUST is to use the RUST members will set up a
Telegram or other platforms to "chat" for that day in Telegram.
communicate and share This chat will include all the key
information on the ground. This information providers.
system will allow for information to
come in from various sources, This becomes the place where
including live streams, on the rumors get dissected, information
ground scouts, scanner listeners,
and amplifiers. That information corroborated, and the right
will then be vetted and message is clarified before
communicated out in a secure and sending it out.
simplified way that doesn't put folks
at risk. RUST is a decentralized
platform that can be copied.
Communities can and should build
several RUST teams for security
reasons. RUST is designed to be
Remote
leaderless. While some folks may
have certain privileges because of
their roles. Nobody should be
Uprising
looked at as a leader, nor should
anybody be treated as one. If you
have something to add to this,
Support
please do, because RUST is what we
contribute to it.
The main point is to be able to
Team
funnel information from remote
and on the ground sources to the
people who are in the streets during
actions and document history in a
secure way.
The RUST network has a few
di�erent roles or teams. Sometimes
a person can cover di�erent roles
within the team, but to work
e�ectively it's better for someone to
dedicate time to one specific role.
 RUST Teams
and Affinity Groups
Key:
Green - Remote, can be done from anywhere.
Yellow - Local, needs to be close to the action/ event
Red - On the Ground, has to be at the action/event.

Scanner Team
This is the crew that listens in on scanners and transcribes relevant
information to the RUST channel of choice. If you are interested in
doing this and you want to get some training,you can join the
t.me/ScannerTraining channel and admins will help you out! There
will be useful literature specifically aimed at what to listen to when
listening to police scanners.
Sometimes a city will switch to encrypted scanners or start using cell
phones. In that case it's easier to move to watching live streams or
following twitter feeds. You can also watch flight radars using Flight
Radar or other tools, and apps like Citizens or Next Door. Local
Facebook groups can also be useful.
Don't discount municipal cameras or tra�c cameras if all else fails.
Research di�erent cameral programs in your area, and you may as
well take advantage of the resources you paid for.

Streamer Team
It is vitally important to respect privacy while streaming. Recently
there have been a lot of conversations about how to ethically stream,
and there are ways around this. You can set up a private Twitch
channel or face time with your RUST team so they can get the benefit
of a live stream without the exposure. You can also choose to just be
careful by pointing your camera down and narrating what's
happening, making sure to only point the camera at the police. Some
medics and legal observers are starting to use GoPros or similar, but
those are backing up to a private, secure cloud. The issue with public
streams is that law enforcement can access them whenever they want.
Legal teams and friendly journalists can use streams and images
later, after they have been securely vetted.
Scout Team
This can only be set up on the ground. Depending on the geography and make up of each town or
city, scouts must be a full on a�nity group. They must have a secure communications platform that
they know how to use and they must trust each other. This team becomes vital in confirming internet
rumors and helping to funnel accurate information. Scouts can use bikes, drones, be in plain clothes
or embedded. Scouts can use maps and build terf based on data collected and experiences shared
on the ground. Scouts' main job is to identify what is going on, spot important intel like prison buses,
tear gas launchers, or other equipment. They communicate with a dispatch person or bot.

Bike/Skateboard Scout
The most mobile and useful. Bike scouts can perform dual roles as
their bikes can form a shield when necessary for a protest. But Bike
Scouts are even more important because they can quickly move
between locations when needed and blend in since they just look like a
cyclist if they aren't in bloc. They can ride routes down streets and
gather intel on the location of every o�cer or militia on that street in a
short amount of time. Skateboards can be useful too for areas where
bikes may be less usable, like at the front of a crowded parade.

Plain Clothes
Scouts who dress as plainly as possible, do not participate in the
protests, but keep eyes on areas nearby. Plain Clothes Scouts can be
placed in a setting where a worker would usually be, such as working
at a food truck or canvassing near a location of a protest. If you are a
security guard who is pissed o� about your low paycheck and having
to stand outside the bar all night, this is perfect for you since you can
call out everything you see and you are always in that location.
Outdoor dining in 2020 makes restaurant sta� some of the best plain
clothes scouts if they can get a moment to pull out their phone and
send a telegram message.

Embedded
Stands or moves with the protest sending and receiving
communications from comms channels. Can be essential for helping
dispersed groups regroup, and spreading information to those on the
ground who are not watching the channels on telegram. Folks
pretending to be Embedded Scouts can be dangerous, so that is why
every a�nity group should have their own embedded scout that they
trust for keeping up with information from communications channels
rather than allow an outside infiltrator to create instability in the
crowd. If everyone follows this in the crowd with an Embedded Scout,
pointing out bad faith infiltrators will be much easier.

Drone
Drones can fly up in the area and gather a lot of intel on the
formations that police and militia are using, as well as on any vehicles
moving towards the location of the protest. However, be careful flying
a drone and know the risks of someone damaging it; Familiarize
yourself with FAA restrictions in your area. Let @RUSTContactBot
know you are flying a drone so that people do not assume it belongs to
the police. Police in some cities have followed people to their cars with
drones. Admin can calm any fear caused by your device.
Dispatch/Relay Team
These are the people with the "keys" to the RUST channels who are
able to decide what should or shouldn't be posted. They are basically
the editors of RUST. These people can be fully remote and can also be
the ones listening to the scanners. They must have at least a basic
understanding of the city and the actions and if working on a city
that's not theirs, they should have a map to help them. They have
contact between every group.

Scanmap Team
Scanmap is an app that can visualize the locations of police, crowds,
and barricades. Data received from scanners and scouts can be input
here by a trusted comrade to help visualize what is happening on the
ground. App developers can be contacted to make a map and key for
your community. It can be a good tool to have for those who are
guiding marches and so folks can know where police have been
spotted. Only useful if you have a large team.

Bot Team
The @RUSTContactBot on Telegram (and any future bots) churn out
a lot of hot tips. Sending the messages to the correct city chats and
answering them on a busy day can be a full time job. Any city can have
their own bot for contact by programing their own or requesting a
care package from the main bot. It is good to have a small team
manage your own bot. When you create your own individual city bot,
make sure you contact @RUSTContactBot so that we can forward
information we receive about your community.

Trainers
We at RUST have created virtual scanner training rooms where
everyone can get a chance listening to scanners and practicing before
being put into a channel to post. Folks who are experienced listening
to scanners for protests can eventually take on roles teaching others
how to do it. Anyone can create their own independent training
system for their own needs outside of scanners, such as scout or other
organized role training.

Social Media Team

Amplifies everything else plus what they see on other platforms. It's
incredibly important that amplifying team be in contact with the
RUST admins. It's remarkable how fast rumors can spread and how
dangerous they can be. During down time, RUST admins should reach
out to the influencers and vocal accounts and try to get them all into a
telegram chat together so information can be verified before it is sent
out over social media.
Group Chat Moderators
This is simply making sure that group chats stay respectful and chud free. They run the public relay's
and forward anything important to dispatchers or bots depending on their contact system. They
also welcome and guide new folks on how and what to report, and point folks in the direction to
setting up their own a�nity groups or RUST team.

Outreach
Outreach teams are focused on making art like posters, maps, and
other graphics details to help link with other activists or be used as
useful public tools for folks. Or they do other things to help grow the
community.

OpSec Team
Everyone's role includes taking to keep an eye out and report what
they see to prevent infiltration, make sure posts are not putting others
at risk, and correcting fake information.

Information Archiving
Someone focused on archiving spends time reviewing and editing
posts to format on Telegram channels so they can be easily found and
used for recorded for history later as a primary source evidence. The
overall accepted format of transcribed scanners and other sources on
telegram is as follows.

All of these groups attempt to communicate with each other

when appropriately through appropriate means.
Remember to protect your identity and never give it out to strangers.

RUST can be expanded by whoever wishes and doesn't have to be a copycat. It is also an apolitical
movement for remote uprisings, so anyone can use these tactics for their movement, whether it's for
Black Lives Matter, Housing Rights, a Strike, etc., a RUST is what you make of it. There is no central
ideas behind RUST besides reporting on state violence and terror attacks on civilians. If your team
wants to include medics and establish a system of dispatching medics, you would be doing everyone
a service by innovating that system.

If you need help with strategies on how to perform your role, we can be reached at the
@RUSTContactBot on Telegram at anytime. If you are a journalist and have questions, all of our
information is in here, but you can reach us by the Telegram if there is something specific to an action
you are wondering about us. But please do not contact us asking what roles are needed. It is bad
OpSec of us to tell people the weaknesses in our strategies, and it is better for you to pick a role you
will be passionate about than us have a team of people who don't care about what they do. If you are
creative, it is even better for you to innovate new roles than ask others what to do. Because that is how
each one of these roles become a part of mainstream remote activism.
Example 10/1 Plainsville Chat
29 members

Scenario F
Hey, a notification came in that someone
saw a gun in the waistband of a person
Plainsville is having a rally and march F wearing a black shirt and blue jeans.
10:20 AM
for Black Lives and have had threats of
right wing extremists showing up. B
B Let me ask the scouts 10:20 AM
Organizers are anxious and people are
hoping to keep everyone on the ground E
safe. E Should we tell the crowd? I can get the megaphone! 10:21 AM

A chat called 10/1 Plainsville Chat is set A

up. In there are: A Let's wait for confirmation 10:21 AM

A: person with posting privileges on the B

Plainsville RUST channel B Scout says they see the guy,checking it out now 10:22 AM

B: The on the ground coordinator of the

scout team.
E
E if there's a gun, people need to know 10:22 AM

C: Listening to the scanners

A
D: Watching social media and we need to confirm it though first. Remember,
communicating directly with social A a lot of tips are supposed to be misleading. 10:24 AM

media accounts. C
E: One of the march organizers. C
Scanner says cops are meeting at 15th and
Main to block traffic 10:25 AM
F: The person on shift that day to
monitor the RUSTContactBot. E
we're at 15th and Main now, planning to
move on and cops are keeping oncoming
traffic clear
E

Formatting
10:30 AM

B
Scout says it's just an old cell phone holster.
B Guy is holding a coffee and talking to someone. 10:31 AM
#City #Source - Who is at what location
for what reason. D
This one streamer says that there's someone
D causing a fight at 14th and Main 10:33 AM
We call this t.me style reporting. Similar
to how we use MLA or APA in school, or E

AP as journalists, we use t.me style to E One of the organizers is going. 10:40 AM

take advantage of functions of

Telegram. Telegram allows users to
A
Making a post on the channel that says
search using keywords or #tags. #tags "Rally is relatively calm, organizers responding to
hecklers and keeping everyone on message.
are much more organized for individual A Police presence is to block traffic for the march." 10:42 AM
sources, while keywords can get a little
messier when organizing. So we use 1
word or acronym to decide the source
when reporting. If there is a link for
something being shared. Include it after
the post so it looks cleaner. If your RUST
is covering 2 events, you want to use the
#City to make it easier to understand
which event. If there are 2 or more events Once that message is sent out, everyone on the
in the city, use a neighborhood or event ground and around town who is subscribed to the
acronym instead so people can RUST channel gets that message and is able to
understand which event you are talking respond accordingly. Not every post on the RUST
about on your channel. requires so much back and forth, but the chat is a
crucial way to keep rumors from spreading
through the crowd and verifying information.
Spread Information
Not Panic
When reporting and signal boosting,
provide as much information as
possible. Use the S.A.L.U.T.E. acronym:

Size/Strength
"5 to 6 armed agitators"

Actions/Activity
"Harassing random people on the move"

Location/Direction
"Manhattan, East of Central Park, E 97th St"

Uniform/Clothes
"Dark jackets, ballcaps"

Time/Date of Observation
"8:32 PM, June 1st"

Equipment/Weapons
"They have body armor and pepper spray"

Messages such as "Proud Boys spotted" are not useful, since

they don't provide information. Where are they spotted?
How long ago? How many of them are there?