Yesterday, February 11, 2014 there was a protest. There were no marches on Washington. There were no sit-ins. There were no banners or angry, unemployed workers in front of your local state house. This protest took place online.
It was called The Day We Fight Back. Web companies and social/political organizations from all walks of life came together to speak out against NSA surveillance. Last year, we learned the NSA was spying on our phones, computers and other tech based devices. The companies fighting back include Tumblr, Mozilla, Reddit, ACLU, Greenpeace, and hundreds if not thousands of other websites and organizations. These websites put up banners like pictures of Benjamin Franklin and his saying, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety”. One banner had an arrow pointing at the web logo that quoting, “This person is proud to join stop the NSA day.”
These online protest have happened before. In January 2012, over 8,000 websites deliberately shut down to protest SOPA and PIPA, bills that would give copyright holders the right to shut down websites as they saw fit without trial. After these protests, these bills died before they even made it to congress. But that was mostly the entertainment industry; this was the federal government. For months, the outcry has been so loud President Obama has called for NSA surveillance reform. Maybe this will add fuel to the fire. I think they’re getting the message people are tired of this surveillance. What needs to be done is to keep this pressure up. Don’t let up about our 4th amendment rights. There’s an old saying, “When the cats are away the rats will play.” Don’t let the rats play. Do you think this protest was a success?