Published on Friday, October 25, 2013 by Common Dreams
‘Stop Watching Us’: Snowden Reaches Out to Endorse DC Rally
‘Stop Watching Us’ coalition rally, planned for Saturday, receives endorsement from NSA whistleblower
‘Stop Watching Us’ coalition rally, planned for Saturday, receives endorsement from NSA whistleblowerAmid yet another round of explosive revelations about the activities of the National Security Agency and ahead of a large rally organized by a large coalition of social justice and privacy advocates planned for Saturday, whistleblower Edward Snowden urged his fellow U.S. citizens to speak out against NSA surveillance by telling Congress and the Obama administration: ‘Stop Watching Us.’
In a rare public statement, released through the ACLU, Snowden said:
In the last four months, we’ve learned a lot about our government.
We’ve learned that the U.S. intelligence community secretly built a system of pervasive surveillance. Today, no telephone in America makes a call without leaving a record with the NSA. Today, no internet transaction enters or leaves America without passing through the NSA’s hands. Our representatives in Congress tell us this is not surveillance. They’re wrong.
Now it’s time for the government to learn from us. On Saturday, the ACLU, EFF, and the rest of the StopWatching.Us coalition are going to D.C. Join us in sending the message: Stop Watching Us.
A large rally is planned for Washington, DC on Saturday with satellite events taking place in cities across the country.
The protests, which coincide with the 12th anniversary of the signing of the Patriot Act into law, are designed to bring together diverse groups from across the political spectrum to demand surveillance law reform.
“The NSA is spying on everyone’s personal communications,” says the coalition, and argues the massive agency is “operating without any meaningful oversight” from Congress, the courts, or the public at large.
The groups—which include the Electronic Frontier Foundation, ACLU, Public Citizen, Restore the Fourth, Free Press, Demand Progress and nearly a hundred others—released this video to promote the event:
And updates and information on the day of action against NSA spying were being listed under #StopWatchingUs on Twitter:
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@ggreenwald#stopwatchingus rally in dc Will be livestreamed by@UnToldCarlisle noon eastern. Live link will go to his Twitter feed - People · View all
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Video: sustainableprosperity: Stop Watching US: Largest anti-NSA rally scheduled for Saturday in DC… http://tmblr.co/ZPeZ5wyd77d8
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finally!
#stopwatchingus RT@kgosztola:@RaniaKhalek Whoo! Yay for rally not organized by some Democratic Party astroturf group
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TunnelBear would like to be included on the list of signatories.
@stopwatchingus We think the internet is better#private.#StopWatchingUs -
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@kevskewl: Stop Watching Us ! ~ Read The Operation Oracle ▸ http://paper.li/OpPinkPower/1308163824 … http://dlvr.it/4CDpS7 -
Tomorrow’s DC
#StopWatchingUs rally is a great example the left/right pro-freedom unity we’ll explore at our#DCvSF event in SF on Monday -
‘Stop Watching Us‘: Celebs Join Anti-NSA YouTube Campaign: In a condemnation of the federal government that co… http://bit.ly/1c4GIOT
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The “Stop Watching Us” video is very polished for the topic, oozing with celebs. Great job by the
@EFF. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk … -
DC protest tomorrow: End NSA surveillance! http://is.gd/HXYFC0
#StopWatchingUs -
Tomorrow,
@ACLU,@EFF & other#StopWatchingUs members will rally in DC at the biggest protest yet against NSA spying https://rally.stopwatching.us/ -
Can’t make it to DC tomorrow for the
#StopWatchingUs protest? Livestream will be available at http://Rally.StopWatching.Us tomorrow at 12pm EST -
Details on tomorrow’s
#StopWatchingUs rally in Washington D.C.: https://rally.stopwatching.us/ -
[DC] Sat. Oct. 26: Stop Watching Us – A Rally Against Mass Spying http://ow.ly/qb0g9
#StopWatchingUs -
VIDEO: Stop Watching Us – made by a coalition against mass surveillance including the
@aclu http://youtu.be/aGmiw_rrNxk via@youtube