“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.