Press Release – Organizers behind today’s “The Day We Fight Back” against mass surveillance announced that the Reform Government Surveillance coalition — which includes major platforms like Google and Yahoo — has endorsed the effort. The RGS coalition has joined more than 5,000 organizations and websites in support of the cause; tens of thousands of individuals have also signed on to make calls and web postings in support of reform to the surveillance state.
“The Day We Fight Back” participants include: the ACLU, Access, Amnesty International, BoingBoing, CREDO, DailyKos, Demand Progress, EFF, Fight for the Future, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Free Press, FreedomWorks, Mozilla, Open Media, the Other 98%, reddit, the Reform Government Surveillance Coalition, RootsAction, Thoughtworks, Thunderclap, Tumblr, and thousands more. Collectively, these organizations represent millions of Internet users.
Today participating sites will use banners and other means to encourage visitors to engage in the day of action. Internet users will be asked to make calls and send emails to members of Congress, generate tweets and Facebook posts, create memes and social avatars, and engage in other viral activity. Internet users are being asked to use the innovative creativity that comes from millions of users connecting on the Internet to participate in unique ways.
“Each week, new stories of the NSA’s overreach show us the true breadth of the surveillance state, and we the people have had enough,” said Adi Kamdar, activist at EFF. “Putting an end to mass spying is a grassroots effort. It’s great to see Internet companies like Twitter and Google standing by their users as we push to stop unchecked surveillance.”
“It’s time we showed the members of Congress who cosponsored the USA FREEDOM Act that we stand strongly behind their efforts to end the bulk collection of Americans’ intimate records. By overwhelming every member of Congress’s phone line, inbox, and Facebook and Twitter accounts with our demand to end government mass surveillance, we can deliver a message impossible to ignore,” said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel of the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office. “After today, every member of Congress who hasn’t cosponsored the USA FREEDOM Act should feel the need to explain why to their constituents. The Internet helped kill SOPA and PIPA, now it can roll back the surveillance state by helping to pass the USA FREEDOM Act.”
“If the president won’t stop unconstitutional spying on Americans without a warrant, it’s up to us to convince Congress to take action,” said Becky Bond, political director at CREDO Mobile. “Congress can’t pick a fight with the Internet and expect to win — and the Internet clearly opposes mass surveillance.”
According to David Moon, Program Director at Demand Progress, “It’s been over 251 days since Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA’s Orwellian surveillance activities. But even with a federal court ruling questioning the constitutionality of the mass spying program, Congress has failed to rein in the abuses.
Today, a coalition of activists on the left and right are being joined by millions of Internet users and thousands of websites to say enough is enough. We’re calling this ‘The Day We Fight Back,’ and we expect to generate thousands of calls and emails calling on members of Congress to stand by the oath they all took ‘to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’ We expect this to be the opening salvo in a concerted effort to pass the USA Freedom Act and restore civilian oversight of our nation’s surveillance operations.”
