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.

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 — developed for human rights activists and journalists

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 — whether you're creating a room or joining one.

Room creator

  • Update your device OS and apps
  • Keep credentials in a secure password manager like Bitwarden
  • Use a separate device for Convene and Chinese apps
  • Share links securely — prefer mirrors when needed, and only with people you trust
  • Keep personal information to a minimum
  • Destroy the room when you're done

Joining a room

  • Update your device OS and apps
  • Use an incognito / private browser window
  • Copy and paste the room link into the browser to join
  • Create a password if you want to keep the session
  • Don't save anything on your device
  • Destroy the room when you're done (or leave and clear traces)
Explore: the clean-exit playbook →