Bachelorarbeit Tom Schuste: Crisis Notifications and Recommendations in Telegram for Activists in conflict-affected Contexts

Mobile crisis notification systems, including apps such as NINA, have been shown around the world to be successful in alerting the public to disasters. Activists in certain countries such as Afghanistan, especially since the Taliban takeover, face unique threats such as phone searches at random checkpoints. On the basis of a threat model for Afghanistan, I propose that the use of a mobile app-based notification system could effectively warn activists in such countries. Messenger apps are one of the primary communication tools used by activists. One of the most widely used open-source messenger apps in conflict-affected regions is Telegram. For this thesis, I develop and compare three different approaches for adding an alert system to Telegram. Two similar approaches are based on a Telegram bot that can send notifications to users in a private chat or channel. The last approach is a modified version of Telegram for Android with a new notification system. The channel and the new notification system can quickly send notifications to many users. The main disadvantage of using a bot is the inability to use encryption compared to the modified application. On the other hand, it doesn’t require any installation. Finally, I analyze the digital security advice that is targeted at activists and that could be provided along with the notifications. In addition to general digital security advice, the recommendations for activists heavily feature tips to improve security against physically present adversaries, such as hiding specific apps or using a burner phone.The thesis concludes that it is possible to provide fast private crisis notifications and recommendations.

Betreuerin: Laura Guntrum, MA

Prüfer: Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Reuter