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The Day We Fight Back

thedaywefightback.org

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Re: The Day We Fight Back

#71

Post by niuzeta »

sinak wrote: post #30
niuzeta wrote: post #13

No, it's not fighting back. Making clever memes online to earn a chuckle or two might help spreading awareness , but in reality changing an online avatar and posting memes online won't affect much in real life. What I find strange is that(Please correct me on this one) there just doesn't seem to be a political group of technologist who lobby(the original meaning) against politicians. In truth, technology-related poli…

You're wrong about the lack of groups who lobby. An abbreviated list of groups who do that: EFF, Public Knowledge, Demand Progress, Engine Advocacy, CDT, OTI, Free Press. Many of these have multiple registered lobbyists walking the halls of Congress and taking meetings. I've actually done this myself too, on my pet issue of cell phone unlocking, with the help of a lobbyist from D.C. Unfortunately, most of these group…

> > What I find strange is that (Please correct me on this one) there just doesn't seem to be a political group of technologist who lobby(the original meaning) against politicians.

As I've stated I am rather ignorant of such groups. I stand corrected. Now, awareness of those groups should be more spread, wouldn't you agree?

Re: The Day We Fight Back

#72

Post by callcongressnow »

[reposting this from another comment for visibility]

Ever since the NSA business leaked, I've been thinking about this problem. It took me a few months to wrap my head around all the crazy stuff that's been going on but I've started building some systems that I think might have a chance of helping out.

"Call Congress Now"- using Twilio, you can call Congress folk from your browser (for free).

http://www.callcongressnow.org/

Here are some Congress people who some consider are doing some shady stuff: http://www.callcongressnow.org/profile/F000062 http://www.callcongressnow.org/profile/L000174

But it's pretty hard to get the word out about websites like that. In a sense, nobody passively cares enough to call Congress. Only when the Congress folks do something that brings about outrage do people care enough to really pick up the phone (or click the twilio button, as it were). So I built the /u/CongressionalHound, a bot on reddit that hunts for mentions of current sitting members of Congress in submitted articles and displays information about them in the comments:

http://www.reddit.com/user/CongressionalHound/comments/

If you are a mod and want me to run the bot on your subreddit, PM the bot and I'll have it saunter on over and get to work. Slowly putting the bot on subreddits that give me permission or invite me to. My hope is that when articles about the NSA, or Obamacare, or the shutdown, or or or any big political issue comes up, that the bot will channel people towards getting in touch with their representatives and senators and effectively voicing their opinions.

Both of these are prototypes and there are major known bugs in both, but I think they can serve as examples of systems that could help citizens better impact their government through the power of the internet.

Re: The Day We Fight Back

#73

Post by gaius »

sp332 wrote: post #26
jheriko wrote: post #12

Hmmm this is all well and good, but what do we expect NSA and GCHQ to do instead? I don't especially like them or what they do, but we need them... I'm also surprised at the massive backlash and the revelatory nature of the Snowden leaks... I was expecting that NSA and GCHQ would engage in precisely these kinds of activities - its exactly what they are there for - I am surprised that anyone ever had any different exp…

More-specific investigations to uncover actual threats, real court oversight, and making sure that protections written into law are enforced during data collection.

If GCHQ and the NSA were actually dedicated to securing our networks that would be a start, e.g. helping businesses and individuals migrate to SELinux or something.

Re: The Day We Fight Back

#74

Post by tmsh »

You need a law or a bill. And then the protest (and ensuing momentum if companies are incentivized to blackout their sites because it's strongly in their interests) pushes the lever for lawmakers.

Re: The Day We Fight Back

#76

Post by stiff »

coldpie wrote: post #55
herbig wrote: post #18

"If Aaron were alive, he'd be on the front lines, fighting against a world in which governments observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action." While government surveillance and open access are both information issues, we definitely should not be construing what he would or wouldn't believe about revelations that were made after his death. If we're taking a literal interpretation of his Guerilla Open Access…

I think the emphasis on Aaron is really a mistake. I follow this news relatively closely, reading HN every day, and I don't really see how Aaron's abusive prosecutors tie in to the NSA stuff. The spying scandals are bad enough on their own. Adding Aaron's death into the mix just muddles the message and confuses people who are less informed.

In January 2012 we defeated the SOPA and PIPA censorship legislation with the largest Internet protest in history. A year ago this month _one of that movement's leaders_, Aaron Swartz, tragically passed away.

Re: The Day We Fight Back

#77

Post by niuzeta »

l33tbro wrote: post #31
niuzeta wrote: post #13

No, it's not fighting back. Making clever memes online to earn a chuckle or two might help spreading awareness , but in reality changing an online avatar and posting memes online won't affect much in real life. What I find strange is that(Please correct me on this one) there just doesn't seem to be a political group of technologist who lobby(the original meaning) against politicians. In truth, technology-related poli…

No. Why is achievement in our culture positioned to always be this 3-act epic like we have to slay the bad guy? try rethinking your approach here and accept that it is actually totally fine to walk home at the end of the day and celebrate a small victory. There are indeed technology consultants that inform these govt policy: they're called lobbyists and their influence is often proportional to how much their self-int…

> it is actually totally fine to walk home at the end of the day and celebrate a small victory.

It is fine to walk home and celebrate a small victory.

It may not be fine to walk home and celebrate a victory, however small, when that victory is nothing but an illusion. Exactly what kind of victory will this movement achieve? From what I can tell it's another let's-feel-good-about-ourselves-by-shouting-at-same-time.

It makes you feel great, sure, but in the end what have you achieved? Two child comments from my comment have corrected me of groups who are fighting back. Perhaps a donation? Spreading awareness of the groups?

A political motion needs to happen continuously. A day's worth party may be fun, but in the end it's a party. People walk home and do not follow.

Re: The Day We Fight Back

#79

Post by whatevsbro »

So, something like this:

  People: "Stop spying on us!"
     NSA: "Well, we kind of want to, but if you insist.."
  People: "Alright then, cool."
    (NSA calmly continues doing whatever they damn well please)
Here's an alternative version:

  People: "Stop spying on us!"
     NSA: "Fuck you, peasants."
  People: "No, fuck you! We'll write to some thoroughly
           corrupt sociopaths and they'll stop your spying
           because they care about our well-being!!"
     NSA: "Good luck with that."
    (NSA calmly continues doing whatever they damn well please)
The actual problem is the existence of the NSA and governments in the first place. They're not accountable to us for anything they do, until there's a revolution, and then the cycle just starts over. The real solution is to stop believing that anyone has the right to rule anyone else.

Re: The Day We Fight Back

#80

Post by bguthrie »

herbig wrote: post #18

"If Aaron were alive, he'd be on the front lines, fighting against a world in which governments observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action." While government surveillance and open access are both information issues, we definitely should not be construing what he would or wouldn't believe about revelations that were made after his death. If we're taking a literal interpretation of his Guerilla Open Access…

Aaron was an intensely private person. I am fairly certain that "zero privacy" was not a goal that he valued.
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