February, 06 2014, 10:39am EDT
More than 4,000 Organizations and Sites to Support "The Day We Fight Back"
Supporters include ACLU, EFF, Demand Progress, reddit, Mozilla, and Thousands More
WASHINGTON
Organizers behind The Day We Fight Back today announced that more than 4,000 organizations and websites have pledged to support the day of action scheduled for February 11, 2014. Tens of thousands of individuals have also pledged 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, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Free Press, Mozilla, Open Media, The Other 98%, reddit, RootsAction, ThoughtWorks, Thunderclap, Tumblr, and thousands more. Collectively, these organizations represent millions of Internet users.
On February 11th, participating sites will be encouraging users to engage in the day of action, through website banners and other means. That participation will include tens of thousands of calls and emails to Members of Congress, tweets and Facebook posts, memes and social avatars, and other viral activity. Users are asked to use the innovative creativity that comes from millions of users connecting on the Internet to participate in unique ways.
"We will not stand idly by while the freedom of the Internet is threatened by abusive government surveillance. We will unite as a community, and we will defend this vital resource. And we are strong," said David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress.
"Your First and Fourth Amendment rights are non-negotiable. You don't give them up when you log on to the Internet," said Rainey Reitman, activism director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Law-abiding Internet users worldwide have a right to be free from mass, suspicion-less surveillance, regardless of their country of origin."
"Expansive surveillance programs damage user trust, stifle innovation, and risk balkanization of the Internet. The response so far has been to leave these harmful programs largely intact, make minor changes and improve oversight to a small degree. Internet users deserve much more," said Chris Riley, Senior Policy Engineer at Mozilla.
"CREDO has a decades-long record fighting for the civil liberties, not just of our phone customers, but of all Americans," said Michael Kieschnick, CEO of CREDO. "Despite the shocking revelations of NSA abuses, the U.S. government continues to defend unconstitutional programs to systematically spy on Americans. So it's up to companies like ours to fight for our customers' constitutional rights."
"The Internet is a critical piece of global infrastructure that has unleashed unprecedented gains in productivity, efficiency and innovation. Economies around the world increasingly depend on it. Mass surveillance threatens the long-term growth and even viability of the internet. We need reforms to protect our economies as well as our human rights," said Craig Gorsline, president of ThoughtWorks.
"The Administration assures us that these programs will not be abused, but the very existence of these programs is abusive of our rights," said Julie Borowski, Policy Analyst at FreedomWorks.
"It's time for Congress to pass the USA FREEDOM Act and end the bulk collection of Americans' records," said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel at the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office. "This bill of genuine surveillance reform already has nearly 150 cosponsors, but it needs more. Every call, tweet, and email to your members of Congress on this day of action will send a clear, convincing message: support the USA FREEDOM Act and rein in the NSA."
More information about The Day We Fight Back can be found at www.thedaywefightback.org.
For interviews, please contact Christina DiPasquale at 202.716.1953 or Christina@fitzgibbonmedia.com.
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