The many ways the government is watching us with an emphasis on digital spying
Another organization is joining the team!
Media Alliance, a California based organization working toward a just, accountable and diverse media system, is the newest OffNow.org Coalition partner. They will be working with many other groups to fight back against unlawful NSA spying through local and state civic action.
Continue reading Media Alliance Joins Off-Now, The Nullify NSA Coalition
Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle Dec 26 2013
It’s not a good feeling when your congressional representatives dip into your pocketbook, but that’s how thousands of California’s tech workers feel today. It’s an old story with a new twist, because we’re not talking about an unwanted tax increase or a regulatory action. We’re taking about the FISA Improvements Act, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Patriot Act for the next decade. Continue reading Feinstein Endangers Silicon Valley Prosperity
A presentation on this important First Amendment case (Media Alliance is one of the 19 plaintiffs) prepared by Joe Nicholson. First Unitarian vs NSA helped to end mass blanket telephone metadata sweeps by the NSA.
San Francisco- Media Alliance joined 18 other not for profit membership associations, including the CalGuns Foundation, Greenpeace, People for the American Way, the Council on islamic-American Relations and many others, as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) against the National Security Administration (NSA) , the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). Named defendants included Attorney General Eric Holder, NSA Director Keith Alexander and National Intelligence Director James Clapper.
The lawsuit focuses on the broad telephone metadata collection program reported in the Washington Post and UK Guardian in June of 2013. The lawsuit cites the freedom of association clause in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution and NAACP vs Alabama (1958), a case which denied government unfettered access to the membership lists of the civil rights organization. The lawsuit alleges a chilling effect on the freedom of individuals to associate.
More than 60 civil liberties, digital rights, press freedom and public interest groups (including Media Alliance) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding a full, transparent account of the Justice Department’s targeting of journalists and whistleblowers. Continue reading 62 Public Interest Groups Demand Answers on AP Seizures
Posted by Tracy Rosenberg on August 19th, 2013
Huffington Post
Update 9/9/2013 – Here is a brief blog entry on the Stop Watching Us coalition meeting with Nancy Pelosi’s SF District office on August 26th.
Stop Watching Us also met with Representative Mike Thompson in the North Bay. Read an account of that visit by Anna Givens in the North Bay Bohemian newspaper.
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Talking About Spying with Nancy Pelosi’s Office
When Edward Snowden’s revelations about the scope and extent of NSA surveillance activities started breaking on the pages of the U.K. Guardian, it was a wake-up call for Internet freedom activists that many of our worst suspicions had come true.
As the flow of stories continued, both in the pages of Guardian and now in many other media outlets including the Washington Post, Der Speigel, the NY Times and Pro Publica, the American public grew more and more convinced of government over-reach and an overly loose interpretation of the Bill of Rights. These perceptions crossed partisan dividing lines and reached 75% of the population. Half a million people signed a petition at http://www.stopwatching.us demanding an end to the programs. Continue reading Talking About Spying With Nancy Pelosi
Famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg was one of the featured speakers at the August 4th anti-spying protest. Ellsberg was joined by Jennider Granick, AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein and author Norman Solomon at the rally in the heart of San Francisco.
Continue reading Restore The Fourth (Amendment) – San Francisco
| Posted by Our Almost Orwellian State on January 29th, 2014 Bill of Rights Defense Committee |
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee, EFF, famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and author Norman Solomon discuss the legal, ethical and political impact of the Snowden disclosures.
