Friend, This is big. Over the weekend, the New York Times editorial board published an astounding op-ed that roundly condemns the NSA’s practice of undermining encryption standards, and calls for sweeping reforms to rein in out-of-control government surveillance. They’ve endorsed a bill that would repeal the PATRIOT Act and parts of the FISA Amendments Act, essentially shutting down the NSA as we know it. That’s incredible. The mainstream media has never been on our side the way they are right now. Powerful members of Congress who are usually our foes are falling all over each other to pass bills they claim will put the NSA in check. We’re living in a crucial time for the Internet, and our actions (or inactions) could decide the future of free speech and democracy. We helped launch the Stop Watching Us coalition within weeks after Snowden’s first leak, and it has since grown to more than 560,000 signers, including groups from across the political spectrum and celebrities like John Cusack, Tim Berners Lee, Wil Wheaton, and Ai Weiwei. Now, the coalition is ready to take our grassroots advocacy to the next level: a major mobilization in Washington, DC to remind Congress that they work for us, not the NSA, and to make it clear in no uncertain terms that we will never stop fighting to protect the Internet from the threat of dragnet government surveillance. Here’s the details: What: Stop Watching Us: A Rally Against Mass Surveillance When: Sat., Oct. 26, 12–3 p.m. Where: TBD, Washington, D.C. Who: You and thousands of others fighting to restore our privacy Click here to learn more and RSVP for the rally. We’re working with a wide range of groups including the EFF, ACLU, Free Press, Demand Progress, FreedomWorks, Code Pink, the Libertarian Party, and so many more to organize a powerful action in DC, and help everyone get there through buses and ride-shares organized by the local groups that we’re building with. There are a million things to do to make this rally huge, so reply to this email if you can help mobilize people in your area. We’re also working on a plan for a huge online protest to coincide with the on-the-ground demonstration, so that everyone can take part. RSVP here if you want to make sure you’re kept in the loop. We’re down to the wire. Right now we have the public, the tech community, and the media on our side, but if we wait too long to respond in a big way, we’ll lose that energy and we run the risk that people will just start accepting the fact that the government is watching all of us all the time. We can’t allow that to happen. The White House is trying to reassure the public, but a shocking AP report shows that the “review panel” that was appointed to investigate the NSA is little more than a rubber stamp committee with no intention of stopping the spying. Meanwhile, tech companies are having to tell their customers to stop using security software that the NSA intentionally weakened. Who knows what revelations next week’s NSA news stories will bring? What we do know is that the time to rise up against this surveillance state is right now. Forward this email, and the New York Times op-ed, to your friends and family. Get them on board, and then bring them with you when you come to DC! Click here to join the protest. More soon, -Evan and Tiffiniy Fight for the Future P.S. we rely on members like you to sustain our work while we fight for everyone’s online freedom. Will you sign up to make a recurring donation so we can continue our winning streak? --
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