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The Day The World Fought Back

In the last year, the world has learned that mass surveillance by governments knows no bounds.

Today, February 11th, internet users around the world are standing together. Today, individuals, civil society organizations, and thousands of websites will let the world’s governments know that we reject global mass surveillance at home and overseas. Today, we fight back.

People will take to the streets in protest in the Philippines, Copenhagen, Stockholm and San Francisco. They will call or write their elected representatives in United Kingdom, Canada, Colombia and Poland. They will hold news conferences or join the online protest in Uganda, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. And they will endorse the Necessary and Proportionate Principles demanding the protection of human rights and an end to mass surveillance.

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What can you do right now?

There are events and actions happening all over the world today, and we need you to help us stand up and fight back. Every voice counts in letting governments know: we won’t stand for mass surveillance.

    1. Take action: Sign the Necessary and Proportionate Principles

    2. Click on the Canadian flag at the above site, or head straight to the Canadian action page, to connect with your MP.

    3. Spread the word: Use social media to let your friends and family know they should take action.

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Mass surveillance violates our fundamental rights

In 2013, documents released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed dozens of wide-ranging intelligence collection programs underway in countries around the globe. His documents showed that intelligence bodies capture personal information about nearly everyone on the planet.

These mass surveillance programs are in violation of our fundamental human rights. They violate our right to privacy and infringe on our rights to freedom of expression and association. They harm the freedom and openness of the global internet, and erode our democratic values.

Today, we ask you to join us: Go to TheDayWeFightBack and sign the Principles. Tell your friends. Share your action on social media. Email your MP. Go to a protest. Start a movement.

Screen shot 2014-02-10 at 11.43.38 PMThis is truly a global movement. From Colombia to South Korea, United Kingdom to Uganda, people are standing up for their fundamental rights. Some examples of global actions include:

  • Argentina: AsociaciĂłn por los Derechos Civiles and VĂ­a Libre Foundation will announce that they are taking the oversight intelligence commission at the Argentinean Congress to the courts. ADC, FVL, and Instituto Latinoamericano de Seguridad y Democracia—a local NGO founder of the Citizens’ Initiative for Control of Intelligence Agencies—has asked for basic information on local intelligence oversight mechanisms at Congress.

  • Australia: A coalition of major organizations will call on the Australian government to undertake a comprehensive review of the mass surveillance activities carried out by the Australian security agencies and their Five Eyes partners, and to implement a number of meaningful privacy protections.  A joint press conference will be held at the Parliament House in Canberra on the morning of Feb. 11, which is the first sitting day of the Australian parliament for 2014. They will also launch the Citizens, Not Suspects campaign to fight back against unchecked surveillance.

  • Brazil: Brazilian legislators are gathering to vote on the Marco Civil, Brazil’s groundbreaking framework on digital rights. Brazilians are organizing a meeting in the country’s capital, Brasilia, to demand that the final version protects the privacy rights of Brazilian citizens.

  • Canada: More than 45 major organizations, over a dozen academic experts, and tens of thousands of Canadians are calling on their elected representatives to stop illegal spying by Communications Security Establishment Canada, Canada’s spying agency.

  • Colombia: Colombians will launch the campaign “Internet sin Chuzadas,” calling for the end of unchecked surveillance at home and abroad. They will also launch a video on how online spying works and what they can do to protect themselves against it.

  • France: La Quadrature du Net will launch the website NSA Observer, an aggregation of public information about the NSA global surveillance programs, as well a short animation “Reclaim your Privacy” about privacy, mass surveillance, and the urgency to rethink our relationship with technology.

  • Philippines: The Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance (PIFA) is organizing a day of mass action against the country’s draconian Cybercrime Prevention Act, including a protest at the Supreme Court, a viral selfie campaign, and a “sticker bombing.”

  • Poland: Panoptykon Foundation will send a letter to President Barack Obama demanding answers about the NSA’s massive collection of data and international cooperation between intelligence agencies, which affects Polish citizens as well as all Europeans. Panoptykon Foundation will increase pressure on the Polish government to finish answering 100 questions on surveillance that the coalition of Polish NGOs posed four months ago.

  • Netherlands: Bits of Freedom will call on Dutch citizens to join The Day We Fight Back and share the campaign to stop mass surveillance: bespiedonsniet.nl (“Don’t Spy On Us”).

  • Serbia: SHARE Foundation will once again call upon Internet citizens to take a stand against mass surveillance by signing and supporting the 13 Principles against mass surveillance.

  • Uganda: Unwanted Witness is petitioning telecommunications companies to stop sharing citizen data with government agencies and other entities involved in mass surveillance.

  • United Kingdom: The UK’s leading privacy and free expression groups aisre launching the DontSpyOnUs.org.uk campaign, calling for organizations to help stop GCHQ’s mass surveillance programs.

  • United States: More than 4,000 websites and companies have committed to hosting TheDayWeFightBack widget on their website. Thousands of people will call and email their congressional representatives, demanding the passage of the USA Freedom Act and the end to mass surveillance.

  • International: The Web We Want invites cartoonists, creatives, and artists to join The Day We Fight Back on February 11, 2014 by creating an original cartoon about online surveillance and the right to privacy.

  • Much more here: https://en.necessaryandproportionate.org/take-action

CIVIL LIBERTIES CAN’T PROTECT THEMSELVES