[GPSCC-chat] take action against mass surveillance by the NSA.

[Spencer Graves]

Hello, All:


       Below please find a request to call your Senators and 
Eepresentative to oppose mass surveillance by the NSA.  The organizers 
of this effort are asking for support for the USA Freedom Act (to reduce 
mass surveillance) and for opposition to S.1631 (the FISA Improvement 
Act to increase mass surveillance). Feinstein has made numerous 
statements supporting increasing state secrecy and mass surveillance, 
and a member of Boxer's staff said she has  not taken a position.


       This is the best organized effort of this kind I've seen: You can 
get an email sent to two Senators and a Representative in less than a 
minute and make phone calls in only a few minutes. Phone calls are 
great, because they allow you to ask questions.


       It was organized in part by the Electronic Frontier Foundation 
(EFF).  The system is not perfect:  It identifies a Representative for 
you based on your zip code alone.  This works fine roughly 95% of the 
time but failed for me.  (To find your representative, enter your zip 
code in the box under "Find your representative" at "house.gov".)


       Best Wishes,
       Spencer


p.s.  My position on this is summarized in "Restrict government secrecy 
not data collection" (http://sanjosepeace.wordpress.com/).


>> *From: *
>> *Subj: **NSA*
>> *To: *
>>
>>
>> A few days ago we told you about today's massive action against mass 
>> spying.  We're calling it *The Day We Fight Back*, and dozens of 
>> large organizations and websites and thousands of smaller ones are 
>> mobilizing their members and visitors to demand an end to broad 
>> suspicion-less surveillance.
>>
>> If all of the organizations and sites that have signed on to the 
>> cause press forward today, we should be able to *drive tens of 
>> thousands of phone calls* to lawmakers to demand that the NSA's mass 
>> spying programs be reined in. *_Will you place one of those 
>> calls?_*  It'll only take 2 minutes, and we'll make it easy for you 
>> by giving you a call script and connecting you to the right office.
>>
>> -*Just click here to call your lawmakers. 
>> <http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=BTjRJZZ1idyzntj0E5%2BOLrkL0LuBnHq3>*
>>
>> -*Then, or if you can't call, please click here to send an email to 
>> your lawmakers. 
>> <http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=lFw7CEoHgnTsrWcAlHVKD7kL0LuBnHq3>*
>>
>> We understand the United States to be a *democracy*, founded upon a 
>> *Constitution *that affords us *critical rights*, and governed by 
>> the*rule of law*.
>>
>> Yet for years, the NSA has exploited secret legal interpretations to 
>> undermine our privacy rights -- thus chilling speech and activism, 
>> and thereby threatening to subvert the very underpinnings of our 
>> democracy itself.
>>
>> _*We are demanding that decision makers remedy this by*_:
>>
>>   * Passing the USA FREEDOM Act, which would end the bulk collection
>>     of Americans' phone records and institute other key reforms.
>>   * Defeating the so-called FISA Improvements Act, which would
>>     entrench -- and potentially expand -- the spying.
>>   * Creating additional privacy protections for non-Americans.
>>   * Ending the NSA's subversion of encryption and other data security
>>     measures.
>>
>> _*And we're not even that far from winning on at least one key front*_:
>>
>> The**_USA FREEDOM Act has more than 100 bipartisan sponsors_, 
>> including two powerful lead sponsors: Chairman of the Senate 
>> Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative James 
>> Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who was the original author of the PATRIOT Act 
>> and is furious that it has been abused to spy on Americans en masse.
>>
>> This summer an amendment that's very similar to parts of the USA 
>> FREEDOM Act failed to pass in the House of Representatives *by just a 
>> handful of votes*. Enough lawmakers now say they would have voted in 
>> support that *it would pass if it came up for a vote today*.
>>
>> Now we *need to force a vote on the issue in the House, and a first 
>> vote on it in the Senate *-- and we'll do that by putting pressure on 
>> lawmakers by calling and emailing them today. *Tens of thousands of 
>> people are poised to join the cause: Please be one of them.*
>>
>> -*Just click here to call your lawmakers. 
>> <http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=EPHjLpYUMPqEHVQC5MdPYzxGeqmE5LhA>*
>>
>> -*Then, or if you can't call, please click here to send an email to 
>> your lawmakers. 
>> <http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=n5acXY%2ByrWVIm2X3L3H%2Fj7kL0LuBnHq3>*
>>
>

-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:www.structuremonitoring.com

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