

Reddit, Mozilla to stage Fourth of July protest against NSA spying - blueveek
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/308931-reddit-mozilla-and-privacy-groups-to-launch-protests-against-nsa-surveillance-programs

======
sentenza
After reading the article, I am slightly disappointed. This is about banners
on homepages, not people carrying signs through the streets. Please don't
underestimate what actual protest in the streets can do, especially if it
appears in unexpected places or in unexpected social circles.

And don't think that there is no precedent for street protests against
internet policies either. Remember that the turning point for ACTA was the
moment when the people of Poland took it to the streets. [1]

[1]
[http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=...](http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.heise.de%2Ftp%2Fblogs%2F8%2F151317)

~~~
tokenizer
[http://www.restorethefourth.net/](http://www.restorethefourth.net/)

There will be protests on the 4th of July as well in many US cities. Maybe
other countries will protest in solidarity as well, like in the occupy
protests, but we won't be sure what happens until the 5th of July.

~~~
lucasjans
All the links on that site 404 for me. Where can I get details on the San
Francisco protest?

~~~
bendoernberg
They're in the process of updating the site, so the links will be fixed in the
next hour or so.
[https://www.facebook.com/events/553989834652790/](https://www.facebook.com/events/553989834652790/)

------
dgunn
Is anyone else still trying to understand the goal here? I know the big lofty
goal is to cause NSA to stop spying on people but what will convince people
that they have stopped?

Is everyone unaware that the NSA's mission is to collect digital intelligence
through clandestine means? It's right on their website. Their mission is to
spy on people and has been for decades.

I may be unaware of what people are really upset about. I just can't
understand how people are so up in arms by this. I'm legitimately interested
in how I'm affected by this as a person who doesn't conduct activity online
that the NSA would ever care about. Can someone help me out here?

~~~
3327
YES the NSA's mission is to spy. We are fine with that but NOT domestically.
We are not fine with that.

In the borders of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA according to the 4th Amendment
of te UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION domestic spying is not legal.

1: NSA should be subject to accountability like everyone in this country 2:
All NSA activities should be restricted to foreign intelligence gathering.

This is the jist of it.

~~~
ajuc
So existence of organisation with particular goal is good enough reason to
pursue that goal, no matter if its ethical or no?

Seriously Americans, what's wrong with you?

~~~
dgunn
I think your comment was intended for me.

Their goal is protect the US. Do you think there are no threats within our
borders? Seriously Americans, what's wrong with you?

See? We can all try to make each other look stupid if we want. It doesn't make
your opinion correct. Show me how I will be negatively affected by the NSA
continuing to do what they've always done. I assure you, I can be convinced if
you're right and I'm wrong. I just can't see the down side.

~~~
ajuc
Secret services spying on each other is a sad reality, but till now all
countries spied on each other spies/politicians/diplomats etc, not on regular
people. When you work at embassy you know from the start thay you are under
observation. It's like soldier going to a war for money - it was his choice.
Spying on everybody is like killing civilians at war. It's worse.

Another analogy - putting everybody from a street in jail just in case. The
fact that you can put criminals in jail and every country does this (and
sometimes jail innocent people by error) doesn't make putting in jail
EVERYBODY and releasing them when they prove they are innocent acceptable.

You may be not affected, but that doesn't make it any less evil. I am not
affected by the lack of LGBT rights in Poland, but I still support them, cause
it's stupid to revoke rights from people without reason.

Also allowing people to get so much power make it almost impossible to later
revoke that power when they switch their goals or abuse it. Who can guarant
you that nobody uses PRISM for personal benefit? Like people betting on stock
exchange because they read that some company is going to default in private
emails, and all other people on stock lose their money to these assholes?
That's just the first example that came to my mind. Do you trust every person
in NSA that they won't do such stuff? Or are you OK with it?

There is a point after which "to protect my country" is not good enough excuse
to revoke people rights.

I have right to not trust officials from foreign country (that I have no way
to vote out of office) with my secrets. They already are doing crazy stuff.
Are you OK with what USA is doing to Snowden? Cause I'm not.

------
mrweasel
I have a hard time taking Mozilla serious in this case.

If Mozilla where really against the NSA spying they would all their users to
easily remove any Google ( and other third party ) services from Firefox. I
understand why they won't, it would mean taking a financial hit, if I
understand they business model.

It's not that it is "Googles fault", they are force to work with the NSA.
However having services from a company known to work with the NSA so deeply
embedded into your product weakness the impact of your resistance to the NSA
surveillance program.

~~~
PhineasRex
I do not see how they have made it difficult to remove Google. One setting in
about:config does the trick.

~~~
mrweasel
I think there where 5 or 6 places Google appeared last time I checked. Also
about:config isn't really user friendly.

------
lifeguard
Useful info for street protests:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5984651](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5984651)

~~~
jadeddrag
Great idea in the comments about switching your phone to airplane mode.

~~~
lifeguard
This is not necessary. There are numerous cameras in all public spaces. Better
to leave phone on for communications. Better yet, install live stream or
ustream:

[http://www.ustream.tv/new](http://www.ustream.tv/new)

[http://new.livestream.com/](http://new.livestream.com/)

------
rjv
Exactly how effective will an online protest be on a day that so many people
spend outdoors; away from their computers/devices?

~~~
jasonlotito
Exactly how effective will an offline protest be on a day that so many people
will spend online, still using their computers and devices?

[http://www.restorethefourth.net/](http://www.restorethefourth.net/)

Do not assume one precludes the other.

------
mtgx
I'm surprised Wikipedia isn't participating in at least putting a call to
action to call your representatives like they did with SOPA last time. I'm not
surprised Google isn't doing it, because I expected as much from them this
time around, but I'm disappointed. It seems they only participate in these
actions when there's immediate gain for them (like not passing SOPA, or ITU's
"sender pays" policy). I just hope they realize that we might not be
"available" to help _them_ next time they need the public's support for
something.

~~~
richardwhiuk
Wikipedia has to pass a fine line of trying not to involve itself in politics,
unless it's a clear threat to it's ability to it's job, and it's not clear
that surveillance (even on such a broad scale) prevents it building an
encyclopaedia.

~~~
belorn
Wikipedia could argue that people will self-censor themselves and thus avoid
looking up information on Wikipedia related to illnesses, sexual topics and so
on. Its the same argument libraries has when claiming peoples library card
history is protected.

~~~
L4mppu
And whappens when those who used to write the articles for anything start
censoring themselves too.

------
tn13
As a non-american I wonder if Mozilla and others are against all spying of NSA
or just Spying of American citizens.

