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Cory Doctorow has a solution: put some pebbles in your shoes, that will change the way you walk right away.

I wish the facial rec-blocking clothes weren't too expensive for most protesters

I could retain a subpar attorney with that

I live in Canada and there is a university professor that had police visit his house because he took some pictures of an oil project that was being protested while he was on a walking trail near the university.

It was an interview on the cbc several years ago. He was a prof at SFU, I assume it was the trans mountain pipeline expansion.

That's because people in the US don't protest for real, since it's totally toothless there's not much crackdown either

I think it depends on the protest, a little bit, but that's generally the case in Canada, too.

I counter-protested anti-SOGI assholes (didn't want 2SLGBTQ+ taught in schools) and it was completely fine. I brought my 5 y.o.

...in the `states, police can shoot you for any or no reason: we call it at-will liberty...

It probably also depends on whether you are just holding a sign or straight up rioting.

It's fucking beautiful, right?

...gen Z have rekindled my hopes for a future which were snuffed by the millenial interregnum...

Why not bring your phone?

Your SIM/IMEI are tied to your ID. The police can visit you at home later. Details depend on the country.

One, it'll get smashed anyway. Two, if you manage to get away, they'll work with your provider or location based apps to prove you were there and arrest you. Or, force you to unlock it so they can arrest your contacts. Filming them barely helps, there's so many videos of cops beating the shit out of people with no justification, who have been identified and never faced any repercussions

Phones are easily tracked, and police generally can get that info. As for the beatings, in the US police commonly aren't held responsible even when they've clearly broken the law. Often, they aren't even charged.

Cell phones can be later used to establish who was there/identify people.

They can use phones to track you. I guess if you're the one who is planning on throwing bricks then don't bring it but if you're just a warm body to fill the crowd a phone is fine since it'll also prove your innocene if you record your whole stay there.

Lots of reasons, mostly this

1. Tracking via bluetooth, wifi, cell signals, nfc, etc. Does one trust airplane mode?
2. Seizure of the device if one is arrested. There is legal debate about what methods law enforcement can use to get into the phone. One is exposing both whatever pictures and video was made at the protest but everything else going on in one's life too.
3. If one has a unique case or model, one can be doxxed.

Action cameras are cheap, durable, and many come without any radios that can be used to track someone. They all look the same. Using a brand new sd card means that the only data on there is the pictures/video taken at the protest. The major downside is that if they are seized, they are an open book for law enforcement since they are unencrypted. If the sd card is taken or destroyed then one loses any evidence along with it.

your phone can't work if your carrier doesn't know where you are

on top of that, advertisers put bluetooth receivers everywhere, which will log your phone as having been nearby, even if you don't connect

on top of that, you can do the same bluetooth trick with wifi endpoints

plus your phone has a gps/glonass/whatever receiver in it

probably other reasons too but those are the ones i can think of off the top of my head

yes you can maybe mitigate all of these, but there are probably ones i haven't thought of that people much smarter than me have, so why take the risk?