Sanitizing

Sanitizing is cleaning up your tools and clothes so that corporate logos are removed or replaced with your own messages.

How to Sanitize

Black sharpie to cover visible logos. Use black gaffer's tape for covering logos without leaving residue. You can find it in photo shops. It is paper based and does not leave any residue even after many months.

Why to Sanitize

There are many reasaons to sanitize:

• Free Advertising: Cover a logo with your own message if you want to promote something.
• Anti-Advertising: Cover logos with no message if you want to be anonymous. Product brands only compete with your own message and clutter the mental environment.
• Avoid giving away information about your technology to people who might know its security weaknesses.

Sanitizing Examples

Sean Kennedy on Patrolling

"Any piece of equipment you get, you want to sanitize it the moment you purchase it... What you want to do is make sure that you're not littering like a reality spammer. Just because you like your laptop, that doesn't mean everyone needs to know what kind you've got. They might known some default stuff and if they can identify what you have they might know some backdoors you're not aware of. Make sure it's clean, make sure you're not littering."

—Patrolling with Sean Kennedy Season 2 Episode 5 20:08

Special Forces Sanitization

Special Forces units on secret missions sometimes sanitize their equipment of all flags, dog tags and serial numbers to avoid giving away their country of origin.