this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2026
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I've been thinking about how to organise in the current era of the complete panopticon we live under.

Anything and everything digital is compromised and is collecting data on you. The surveillance industries have completely captured social media and all forms of digital communication.

Encryption doesn't mean shit and it's not feasible to have to teach every person in your org how PGP and public/private keys work.

But how about going back to pen and paper? Instead of sending online messages which can be logged and read by any cop and informant, members of an organisation would use letters or pure paper media and use each other to send information through a chain of other comrades.

Imagine an organisation that has 10 members. Each member is expected to move a distance of 2 km to deliver the mail to the drop-off point, or hand it over to the next comrade who will hand it to the next comrade in the post chain.

That's <30 minutes of walking, by the way.

With ten members, able to walk 2km each, a letter could reach around 20 km, which is quite a big chunk of any city.

If I wanted to send a letter to a comrade who was a bit of a distance away, say 6 km, the letter would maybe exchange hands 5-6 times to reach its destination.

And if your comrades have a car, your covered area multiplies.

I'm drunk and high, but I think what I'm trying to say here, is what if radical organisation came with an underlying postal service, where trusted comrades would be expected to act as mail men for the organisation, as to avoid the surveillance state?

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[–] Big@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago

Additional thoughts:

Paper leaves no trail and can be burned or destroyed.

Given enough party discipline, a letter can reach any local target by the end of the day

Unique wax seals can determine if a letter has been opened or tampered with, and if each comrade has a unique seal, that effectively works as a pseudonym. Think of Japanese ID stamps.

It encourages your lazy asses to go outside more.

For extra security, a ledger could be made to keep track of who's letter is destined to go where, and which ID/seal/stamp is currently holding the letter or is expected to hold the letter.

Not just letters, but all kinds of materials can be sent around, like propaganda leaflets, food, tools, equipment, weed, etc