Internet "Slow Down" Day
Sites Across The Internet "Slow Down" For Net Neutrality
All across the Web today, sites are simulating a slowdown to protest the FCC's "Open Internet" proposal and call for stronger protections for net neutrality. It's a digital day of action on a massive scale, with support from digital rights organizations like Fight For The Future, Demand Progress, EFF and more, as well as Internet companies like Etsy, reddit, Mozilla, and Netflix. People are calling the FCC and leaving online comments in huge numbers: at points, up to 1000 phone calls a minute. It's not too late to take part--head to our site DearFCC.org and make sure your voice gets heard!
EFF and the rest of the legal team behind Smith v. Obama, a challenge to the NSA's warrantless collection of phone records, have received some high-profile support. Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich--members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA--write that they "have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans' phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans." This echoes statements made by numerous officials, including President Obama himself, and it is crucial to countering the arguments in this case about the national security importance of the NSA’s program.
While all eyes are on the disturbing evidence of police militarization in Ferguson, are you paying attention to what’s happening with law enforcement in your own back yard? In the San Francisco Bay Area, the answer is yes. A coalition of community groups came together to call attention to Urban Shield, a four-day long “preparedness” exercise for law enforcement and other agencies. The reasons for protesting Urban Shield are clear. It is one of the ways that local law enforcement gets access to, and romanced by, military and surveillance technologies like the ones we've seen turned against protesters in Ferguson, as well as other communities across the country.
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