(Susanne Posel) Stop Watching Us (SWU) organized a protest march in Washington, DC to speak out against the NSA (National Security Agency) PRISM program. Mainstream media (MSM) reported that thousands showed up to attend the protest in DC at the Union Station to the Capitol Building. Capitol Police reluctantly estimated that more than 2,000 persons were present at the DC rally. This protest is timed for the 12th anniversary of the signing of the US Patriot Act in 2001. Protesters carried signs stating: “Stop Mass Spying” and “Thank you Edward Snowden” and “Unplug Big Brother”
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Jesslyn Raddack, Department of Justice (DoJ) whistleblower told the crowd: “This is about the unconstitutional, unethical, and immoral actions of the modern-day surveillance state and how we all must work together to remind government to stop them. It’s about our right to know, to associate freely, and to live in an open society.” This demonstration brought together Americans of all political background and social class as the march unified personal ideology with a common goal – to not have a police surveillance state monitoring their every move. One protester said: “I consider myself a conservative and no conservative wants their government collecting information on them and storing it and using it.” Another demonstrator commented: “Over the past several months, we have learned so much about the abuses (of privacy) that are going on and the complete lack of oversight and the mass surveillance into every detail of our lives. And we need to tell Congress that they have to act.”
Participants of the rally are encouraged to sign the petition initiated by SWU. Members of SWU and protesters from RAMS will join organizations such as:
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
• Anonyops
• Association of Alternative Media (AAM)
• Bill of Rights Defense Committee (BRDC)
• Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT)
• Demand Progress
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
• Foundation for Innovation & Internet (FII)
• Koch Brother’s FreedomWorks
• Green Party of the United States (GPUS)
• Guardian Project
• Libertarian Party
• MoveOn.org
• Occupy Wall St (OWS)
• World Wide Web Foundation (WWWF)
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Last July 4th, Restore the Fourth (RT4), initiated a protest to bring awareness to the destruction of our 4th Amendment rights. This Constitutional right states : “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Rallies across the nation, created by RT4 have been initiated in states such as:
• Florida
• Louisiana
• California
• Arizona
• Washington
• Oregon
• New York
• Massachusetts
• Pennsylvania
• Colorado
• Missouri
RT4, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and SWU have come together to demand that Capitol Hill: Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court; Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance; Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.
SWU has an online petition and open letter to Congress that states in part: “We write to express our concern about recent reports published in the Guardian and the Washington Post, and acknowledged by the Obama Administration, which reveal secret spying by the NSA (National Security Agency) on phone records and Internet activity of people in the United States.” The letter continues: “The Washington Post and the Guardian recently published reports based on information provided by an intelligence contractor showing how the NSA and the FBI are gaining broad access to data collected by nine of the leading U.S. Internet companies and sharing this information with foreign governments. As reported, the U.S. government is extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time. As a result, the contents of communications of people both abroad and in the U.S. can be swept in without any suspicion of crime or association with a terrorist organization.”
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