“This is showing what the police are doing. This is showing what these cops are doing with the $116 billion, collectively, that police have in this country,” Gorky told Loud and Clear hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou on Monday.
She detailed that one uncovered instance involved cops’ monitoring of social media engagement with a protest that was planned to be held in memory of the late George Floyd. Gorky alleged that this information was updated every 30 minutes.
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“Other information that has come out is that the cops and the FBI have classified medics as ‘Antifa-affiliated extremists’” she noted.
“They’ve also revealed that white supremacists are posing as protesters and infiltrating movements with the goal of inciting violence.”
Gorky explained that a number of reports provided to authorities had to do with “neo-Nazis” who ”planned to dress up as protesters” and “right-wing, ex-military extremists who planned on sparking violence and planned on hurting people to exacerbate the situation.”
While the aforementioned cases in the leak are certainly alarming, she pointed out that these are simply the most recent police actions.
Gorky noted that in 2006, there was an analysis conducted of so-called “Black-separatist extremists” who were protesting against police brutality.
“Protests against police brutality have been happening since the formation of the police,” she noted.
“As early as 2006, we see, already, the police and the forces of the state identifying people fighting for justice as extremists,” Gorky asserted. “So, stay tuned for much more, many more revelations coming out of this trope.”
Web developer and technologist Chris Garaffa told the Loud and Clear hosts that while it remains to be seen whether politicians on even a local level will turn their leak-related discussions into legislation, the files do present the opportunity for demonstrators to educate themselves on the previously hidden tactics of law enforcement and how they pertain to protesters exercising their constitutional right to assemble.
Garaffa noted that the leaks highlight how important it is for protesters to take their own security seriously - whether offline or online.
“All of this stuff is being tracked. It is being stored in these databases, and people who are engaging in protest, engaging in any sort of activism, need to be very aware of what you post on Twitter or Facebook or TikTok or any of these social media sites - even if you think your account is locked down,” they said.
“Even if it’s a joke to you and your friends, the state isn’t going to see it that way, and they’re going to use it, any way they can, against you.”