Guarding Our Speech and Cell Phone Security

(Minghui.org) I have witnessed many instances of practitioners being arrested and material production sites being destroyed because practitioners did not watch what they said while talking on their cell phones. I believe that this is one of the major reasons why the persecution of Falun Dafa in China over the past two decades has been so severe.

Material Production Center Destroyed

After the persecution started on July 20, 1999, I rented an apartment where I could make Dafa informational materials. Only one practitioner knew about it, and she helped distribute the materials to other practitioners. No one else knew I was the one who made them. We worked like this for many years without a problem.

Later, more and more practitioners started to make materials in their own homes. I also started to do the same and supplied materials to several practitioners. However, a few years later, the police found out about me. I was arrested and my home-based material production site was destroyed.

I knew it was related to my inadequacy in cultivation, but I also found it very strange. It was very clear that the police came after me in particular, but they didn’t know where I lived at first. I had always kept a low profile and usually didn’t contact other practitioners. I wondered how they’d found out about my production site.

After I was released, I was unable to continue making truth-clarifying materials and got involved in another project. A fellow practitioner took over the responsibility of producing materials. However, in about a year, it, too, was destroyed. And the practitioner was sentenced to many years in prison.

For years I couldn’t understand how the police had discovered our sites so quickly and easily—until I read articles on Minghui.org about cell phone security. I then realized a possible reason.

Guarding Our Speech Is Very Important

One day a senior practitioner came to visit me. I hadn’t seen her for a while and was pleased to see her. She spoke quite loudly because of her hearing problem. We talked for about ten minutes. She asked if the sticker she was holding was made by so-and-so. I immediately reminded her not to mention practitioners’ full names and that we have to be very cautious about cellphone monitoring. She nodded, but I was not sure if she really understood what I meant.

Another day, a fellow practitioner told me that Aunt Mei (pseudonym) was looking for me. She said that Auntie Mei had borrowed her mother’s cell phone and called my name over the phone. I sighed to myself, “Why does she have no sense of security? Isn’t she concerned about the safety of fellow practitioners?”

A senior practitioner Hong (pseudonym) often chatted over the phone without avoiding sensitive words and topics, such as “studying the Fa” or “doing the exercises.” When the police later revealed to her that they were monitoring her phone, she didn’t even understand what it meant.

To protect practitioners who run material centers, we can give them simple nicknames, so it won’t be so easy for the police to identify them.

Cell Phone Security Can’t Be Ignored

In China, the vast majority of cases involving the destruction of material production sites and the arrests of practitioners can be traced to tapped cell phones. By tapping cell phones, the police obtained information about who was producing informational materials, who were providing technical support, and who were the coordinators. I heard that after Gao Rongrong was rescued, the police found out where she was by tapping the phones of the practitioners involved. She was soon arrested again and eventually died in custody.

While the cell phone has become indispensable for most people, it has also made it convenient for the police to use it to persecute us. Even if it’s put in another room, it can still be tapped into and your conversations overheard. The most effective way to prevent cellphone monitoring is to remove the battery after using it or keep it in a metal container after turning it off.

Be Responsible for Yourself

Our cultivation is full of difficulties and dangers. Everything we do is recorded, including how well we do it, the positive and negative effects of it, and the damage caused by our negligence.

If someone does not pay attention to cellphone security, a material center might get destroyed and the practitioner who runs it might get arrested and maybe later tortured to death. As far as the police are concerned, it was the first practitioner who gave them the information that was responsible for the second practitioner’s arrest and eventual fate. Yet she might be under the illusion that she is cultivating well and has strong righteous thoughts because the police don’t arrest her. However, in the records of the divine, she might be held accountable for the other practitioners’ death and might not be able to reach spiritual perfection.

I would like to remind practitioners again to pay attention to safety and guard our speech to protect other practitioners.

Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)