Why We Publish a Warrant Canary

In a time of growing state surveillance, secret subpoenas, and digital crackdowns on dissent, we’re taking steps to protect our community and stay transparent about government interference. That’s why The Antifascist Club now publishes a cryptographically signed warrant canary.

A warrant canary is a public statement that confirms we have not received certain government orders — like National Security Letters (NSLs), FISA court directives, or gag orders — that are often legally prohibited from being disclosed. If the canary stops updating, it means something might have changed.

How It Works

Our canary is updated and signed automatically every week. You can view it at:

👉 https://antifascist.club/.well-known/canary.txt
🔏 Verify the signature with our public key.

Each entry contains:

  • The current date
  • A SHA256 hash of our homepage (to confirm site integrity)
  • A clear statement affirming no gag orders, NSLs, or secret government demands have been received

If we ever receive one of those orders, or if we’re prevented from speaking publicly due to government coercion, the canary will stop updating.

Why It Matters

Authoritarianism doesn’t just show up in jackboots and speeches — it creeps in through silence, secrecy, and fear. Our communities are already targets of surveillance, profiling, and censorship. This small digital tool is one way we fight back.

We want our community to know:

  • We are committed to resisting unlawful surveillance
  • We will never cooperate with state repression
  • We will be honest if our ability to speak freely is compromised

Verify It Yourself

You don’t have to take our word for it. The signature on each canary is generated with our private GPG key. You can download our public key, verify the .sig file, and check that the statement is legitimate and unaltered.

curl -O https://antifascist.club/.well-known/canary.txt
curl -O https://antifascist.club/.well-known/canary.txt.sig
gpg --verify canary.txt.sig canary.txt

We’ll provide instructions and the full public key on our Resources page shortly.