Convene
Tibet Action Institute
TibCERT

a hands-on training

Convene & Digital Security Training

Learn how the internet really works, how censorship is imposed and circumvented, and how to communicate securely with Convene — no app, no phone number, no trace.

8 sessions ≈ 2 hours Hands-on
View the agenda

Overview

One training. A safer digital life.

Tibetans inside Tibet and across the diaspora face some of the most aggressive surveillance and censorship in the world. This training walks you from the fundamentals — how data travels across the internet — to practical, everyday skills: locking down your devices, circumventing censorship, and running secure conversations on Convene.

0 Focused sessions
0 Minutes total
0 Hands-on exercises
0 Apps to install

The plan

Training agenda

Eight sessions, from concepts to hands-on practice. Click any session to expand the details.

The foundation for everything that follows: what actually happens when you open a website or send a message.

  • How the Internet Works — interactive story of typing tibet.net (name → address → travel → website)
  • How data travels: devices, ISPs, routers, servers, and packets
  • The difference between the internet inside Tibet and outside — gateways, blocking, and surveillance
  • Interactive walkthrough with the firewall / VPN packet demo
Start: How the Internet Works →

Understanding what censorship looks like technically — and the tools built to defeat it.

  • Circumvention tools — how they route around blocks
  • VPNs — encrypted tunnels that hide your traffic from the firewall
  • Tor — anonymity through layered, onion-routed relays
  • Secure communication — why the channel matters as much as the message
  • Encryption — scrambling data so only the intended recipient can read it
Explore with interactive demos →

Meet Convene — "chat for everyone." A secure communication platform built for exactly this environment.

  • A Progressive Web App (PWA): runs entirely in the browser
  • No installation from an app store — nothing to flag on your device
  • Works on all browsers, including Chinese browsers
  • Open source — a product of Rights Action Lab, developed by the Guardian Project with community support from TibCERT

Your security is only as strong as the device you use. Practical hygiene that takes minutes but blocks the most common attacks.

  • Update your OS and apps — patches close known security holes
  • Audit app permissions — camera, microphone, location, contacts
  • Browser security — safe settings, extensions, and habits
  • Separate your Chinese-app phone from your work devices — keep WeChat and sensitive work on different hardware
Take the interactive security checkup →

What makes Convene different from every other messaging tool.

  • No app needed — no download, no hassle, no store account
  • No personal information — no phone number or email required
  • Unblockable by design — mirror links bypass censorship (technical deep-dive from Jigdel)
  • Just create a room and invite — instant secure spaces
  • Delete the room and leave no trace
Explore the Convene deep dive →

The core of the training: an efficient, end-to-end workflow on both phone and laptop.

Getting in

  • Log in with credentials or create a new room
  • Use Bitwarden to store credentials safely
  • Choose the room type and security settings when creating

The interface (phone & laptop)

  • The landing page and room list
  • Room types: group chat (public), one-on-one (encrypted), broadcast channel & filedrop

Creating rooms & inviting people (demo / hands-on)

  • Inviting contacts with QR codes and links
  • Mirror / alternative links — and sending them safely through WeChat
  • Joining a room

Communicating (hands-on)

  • Sending text, voice messages, and files
  • Running polls
  • Managing rooms and members

Clean exit (hands-on)

  • How to delete a room completely — it disappears for every member
  • Clearing cache and history so nothing remains on the device
Join the Convene demo session →

Match the symptom to the fix — most Convene issues take under a minute to resolve.

  • Page won't load? Switch to a mirror link, or try mobile data instead of Wi-Fi
  • Acting strangely? Hard-refresh (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R), reopen the room, or try a different browser
  • Can't log in? Re-enter credentials carefully (watch for pasted spaces) and confirm the correct instance or mirror address

Need more help?

Open the troubleshooting page →

Habits that keep you safe every single time you use Convene.

  • Use incognito windows for sensitive sessions
  • Save your Convene credentials securely (Bitwarden)
  • Always run Convene on an updated OS and browser
  • Saving chats when you need a record — and keeping sessions alive
  • Destroy the room when the conversation is done
  • Delete browser history, cache, and cookies afterwards
Explore: the clean-exit playbook →