NSA, PRISM, GET INVOLVED

Submitted by: Suzanne

UPDATE: just as we were sending this email, we saw the latest leaked documents that show that PRISM allowed the NSA to use FBI-operated equipment located at tech companies headquarters to eavesdrop on our conversations in real-time. See them for yourself, but read on.

Millions have already taken action, but it’s going to take more than just petition signatures to put a stop to unconstitutional NSA surveillance. The U.S. government wants to forget it’s own Constitution. We’re going to make that completely impossible.

There are national protests happening on July 4th -- online and off. Grassroots Internet users have organized Restore the Fourth protests on the ground all over the U.S. on the 4th of July. Building off the energy of the StopWatching.us coalition (which now has over 550,000 signers), and aiming to amplify the protests on the ground, we’re raising the Internet Defense League’s “Cat Signal” on July 4th, asking websites and organizations to show call out the NSA by displaying the text of the 4th Amendment. We just started outreach and we’ve already got EFF, Wordpress, 4chan, Reddit, Namecheap, Imgur, Mozilla, DuckDuckGo, Fark, and Cheezburger signed up to participate. We need you too!

If you already have the IDL’s “all campaigns” code installed, you’re all set. The Cat Signal will be raised at midnight on July 4th and will turn off at midnight on July 5th. We’ll send out campaign specific code on Tuesday, for those who just want to participate in this action, but what we need you to do right now is help spread the word. We need to ramp this up and get everyone on board. If you have Twitter or Facebook, click the link below, if not, please blog, share, call your friends and tell them. This is going to be epic, so get everyone.

We need you on this one. Click here to join our Thunderclap and help make this protest HUGE.

This is a watershed moment for our basic rights to free speech, freedom of association, and privacy. What the NSA is doing is illegal. We are at the moment where we decide if the government should have the power to track, target, profile, and deem suspicious any one of us based on our small everyday movements. The first in line are probably the journalists we depend on, any of our friends or family who are even slightly political. This is why privacy matters -- it does not allow the government to unreasonably persecute anyone.

Click here to join our Thunderclap to spread the word about the protests!

It’s time to leave behind the politics that have failed us. These government dragnet programs started under Bush, but Obama made them even worse, and his administration has mounted an unprecedented attack on journalists and whistleblowers, using the Espionage Act to stifle free speech more times than all other presidents combined. Republicans and Democrats have both failed to uphold the Constitution -- they’re defending the NSA’s programs, or outright lying about it -- and as a result, the foundation of our democracy is in question.

There’s many ways to fight the NSA. Click here to see all the ways that you can participate on July 4th, online and in the streets.

Can you forward this to 10 people right now and ask them to do the same?

We’re counting on you. Everyone is. Last chance: click here to join the movement.

Sincerely,

Tiffiniy, Holmes, Evan, and the whole FFTF team

You can also:
*Donate to make all this happen.
*Like us on Facebook
*Follow us on Twitter

SOURCES:

1) The Guardian, “NSA collected U.S. email records in bulk for more than 2 years under Obama”

2) Washington Post, “Here’s everything we know about how the NSA’s secret programs work”

3) Slate, “Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined”

4) Watch Glen Greenwald on Democracy Now as he proves that Dianne Feinstein lied to the camera

5) The Atlantic, “2 Senators Say the NSA is Still Feeding us False Information”