Artists at Risk (AR) recommends keeping all communications as secure as possible. However, the below applies in rare cases only.

Applicants to AR/ER

New applicants should fill in the form on the Apply Page (https://artistsatrisk.org/apply/). Google forms have a reasonably high standard of security. The applicant must use a Google email, so all information remains within secure within Google’s systems.

ONLY if you are at very high digital risk will we accept an application via Element. Only if you have very good reasons to believe that your access to Google could be compromised – which is likely only in the case of having a state-level adversary – should you make first contact with AR/ER via Element. In this case consult this document to set up ELEMENT for Applicants.

We use Element as it is highly secure and does NOT require exchanging/sharing your phone number. Telephones / SIM-cards can be easily geo-located. That is, they can give away your location. So if you are at high risk, we recommend that you REMOVE all SIM-CARDS of which your adversary has the telephone numbers. 

Please note that there is no ultimate guarantee of security. Usually, the weakest point in security is due to lack of care in human interactions. Who do you share information with? How easy are your passwords to guess?  There are several guides on the web that help with internet security, but most have to do with who you share information with.