Internet Joins Together to #StopTheNSA
On February 11, thousands of websites will host banners urging people to call or email Congress and speak out against the National Security Agency's practices of mass surveillance.
The Day We Fight Back's website reads:
The SOPA and PIPA protests were successful because we all took part, as a community. As Aaron Swartz put it, everybody "made themselves the hero of their own story." We can set a date, but we need all of you, the users of the Internet, to make it a movement.Referencing the Internet blackouts that took place in 2012, where over 7,000 websites -- including Wikipedia and Google -- protested anti-piracy legislation being considered by Congress.
The Day We Fight Back movement hopes to mobilize a similar audience.
Comparing today's protest to those against SOPA and PIPA, ACLU counsel Michelle Richardson says:
"The NSA spying issue is really kind of touching that same community in the same way, because it is that same sense of the government trampling on this very important and valuable resource."
With 53 percent of Americans opposing the National Security Agency's practices of mass surveillance, the movement has already gained traction on sites such as Reddit, with a subreddit devoted to news and information on the online movement.
Other sites planning on protesting the NSA include Tumblr, Reddit, Amnesty International, Imgur, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the ACLU.
You can follow the #StopTheNSA protest on Twitter below: