Code of Courage

Laura Guntrum publishes comic about digital security for activists

“Code of Courage: A Comic About Digital Se­curity for Ac­tivists” is a recently pub­lished comic based on the re­search of TraCe re­searcher Laura Guntrum. The comic sheds light on the challenges of tech­nology-facilitated vio­lence and provides strate­gies to enhance privacy and se­curity. Based on the stories shared by over 90 ac­tivists from Myan­mar, Colombia, Costa Rica, Bo­livia, Nica­ragua, and Cameroon, the comic follows four friends, who are deep­ly committed to human rights ac­tivism in a country grappling with in­creasing authori­tarianism. In their attempts to orga­nize via social media, the group is con­fronted with relent­less challenges such as inter­net shutdowns, hacked accounts and direct threats. Fa­cing constant danger and sur­veillance, the ac­tivists must find ways to a­dept to the con­tinually changing circum­stances in order to counter the oppression.

Besides the re­search of Laura Guntrum, the pro­ject is based on drawings and ideas of Chari­kleia Livani and Fran­ziska Schraut and was edi­torially assisted by Julian Law­rence. 

The Eng­lish-language comic is available for down­load (PDF).

Charikleia, Livani/Guntrum, Laura/Lawrence, Julian/Schraut, Franziska (2025): Code of Cou­rage: A Comic About Digi­tal Security for Activists. Darm­stadt: Universitäts- und Landes­bibliothek Darm­stadt, DOI: 10.26083/tuprints-00029108.

Laura Guntrum is Re­search Asso­ciate at Science and Tech­nology for Peace and Se­curity (PEASEC) in the Depart­ment of Com­puter Science at the Tech­nical University of Darm­stadt. As part of TraCe, she is investi­gating the research field Forms: 1.2 New Forms of Po­litical Violence and Tech­nological Change on how information and communi­cation tech­nologies (ICT) are used in poli­tical crises.