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Today is The Day We Fight Back

thedaywefightback.org

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Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back

#31

Post by KiwiCoder »

davidw wrote: post #4

I support this effort 100%, but... there's something a bit off about the messaging that I can't quite put my finger on. Perhaps "the day"? This is going to be a long haul, not like killing SOPA or some other bad bill. This system is entrenched, and has a lot of support. It's going to be a long fight, and it's going to be a slog. For those in the US, though, please do call your representatives.

If I had to point to one thing it would be "the day".

* It's clearly going to take more than a day to achieve a positive outcome in a system that was established over many decades

* What happens when "the day" ends?

* Since the action is framed as "the day", this is how the media will report on it - including outcomes of the day. These outcomes, whatever they are, will be packaged with the day and thus more easily dismissed than, say, "the movement" (which continues to grow) or "the tide" (that is turning) or "the big cleanup" (which must be repeated regularly)

Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back

#34

Post by motters »

My little fight back are some instructions on how to provide your own internet services, including encryption.

http://freedombone.uk.to/

It's not ideal, of course, but in the short term since there seems to be no political appetite for relinquishment or meaningful reform then technical mitigation strategies - if they can be sufficiently popularised - may help to reduce the harm resulting from mass surveillance.

Ultimately the solution is both political and technical. When politicians or other public figures make claims that what's going on is "not mass surveillance" or try to imply that collecting metadata is unimportant then they should be challenged.

Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back

#35

Post by sekasi »

chalst wrote: post #17

Oh, a flash protest, one that seems to have been announced with a press release only yesterday and pushed by the EFF just one hour ago. Well, it is too short notice for me to invest the time to black out my website, so I will not be supporting this. Maybe there will be a similar action next year that I will support, if it is better advertised beforehand.

Can you be any less likable if you tried? It's been advertised, you just haven't seen it.

That's not entirely their fault, advertising is not free. You don't have to be all snobby about it. Sheesh.

Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back

#36

Post by sinak »

mkl wrote: post #29
sinak wrote: post #25

All of the people who built the site and the banner are volunteers who met on HN across various threads, and not members of any of the advocacy orgs or companies listed on the site. We're really interested in getting feedback on how future campaigns can be better, and happy to discuss some of the decisions we made. The non-profits involved did all the legal and organization lifting, and this is a great opportunity to…

(My comment here is about the international version of the site - the USA one is much clearer in its purpose.) One crucial piece of information I haven't been able to find is what happens to the names and email addresses people enter. How does filling in those boxes amount to taking action? I am strongly opposed to mass surveillance, but thedaywefightback.org doesn't seem to be communicating successfully how exactly…

That's a really valid criticism, we're just pushing some changes that we hope address those concerns (will be up in about 10 minutes).

Edit: Changes are up. It's not perfect, but hopefully it addresses some of your concerns.

Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back

#38

Post by insider03 »

mkl wrote: post #29
sinak wrote: post #25

All of the people who built the site and the banner are volunteers who met on HN across various threads, and not members of any of the advocacy orgs or companies listed on the site. We're really interested in getting feedback on how future campaigns can be better, and happy to discuss some of the decisions we made. The non-profits involved did all the legal and organization lifting, and this is a great opportunity to…

(My comment here is about the international version of the site - the USA one is much clearer in its purpose.) One crucial piece of information I haven't been able to find is what happens to the names and email addresses people enter. How does filling in those boxes amount to taking action? I am strongly opposed to mass surveillance, but thedaywefightback.org doesn't seem to be communicating successfully how exactly…

Your point is very good! It needs to be specified how our signatures will help in the fight against mass surveillance. We signed, and now what? Spread the word. But what is next?

Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back

#39

Post by mjolk »

sinak wrote: post #25

All of the people who built the site and the banner are volunteers who met on HN across various threads, and not members of any of the advocacy orgs or companies listed on the site. We're really interested in getting feedback on how future campaigns can be better, and happy to discuss some of the decisions we made. The non-profits involved did all the legal and organization lifting, and this is a great opportunity to…

"Likely the most impactful thing you can do right now is to add the banner to your own site and ask the companies you work for to do the same."

Why do you feel this is the most impactful thing that [I] can do? Specifically, do you believe that putting a banner on webpages will prompt more phone calls to legislators, which will in turn lead to the reduction of surveillance?

The video is heavy handed (actors and names-the-common-person-would-know with sweeping music) saying that surveillance is bad, but it's never clearly articulated _why_ one should believe that data mining by the government is wrong (besides unqualified claims of it being unconstitutional and against imagined civil liberties).

I personally think that there's risk in allowing a government to harvest and store data indefinitely (primarily because an unscrupulous politique could perform a character assassination to push a narrative), but I'm not the target audience for this advertisement.

Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back

#40

Post by higherpurpose »

cLeEOGPw wrote: post #26
suprgeek wrote: post #23

Why don't we (as the hacker/programmer community) also "fight back" in the meaningful & legal way that is our core strength? Resolve to push for encryption if there is any PII data in an app that you work with especially if it is a e-mail/mobile/social app. at scale Refuse to work with/at NSA until their policies change Refuse to participate in any committee/standards body, conferences, with NSA employees (or their c…

> Refuse to work with/at NSA until their policies change Don't agree with this. Boycotts relying on cooperation and trust between unorganized members are doomed to fail and only hurts those that take part in such boycott.

So you think that after you join NSA, you'd participate in such a boycott against NSA? Or will you be even more terrified about losing the job you've already gotten, and try to be on the "safe side" as much as possible to keep your job?
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