Tell Congress to stand up for our rights by launching an investigation into the recently revealed mass surveillance programs and passing reforms to ensure this kind of unchecked snooping never happens again!
Our worst fears have been confirmed. For the past six years, the US government has been been spying on the world, collecting unprecedented amounts of data on global communications. This mass surveillance is bigger than anything we’ve ever seen, and it needs to be stopped.
In response, Access has teamed up with Mozilla, EFF, Free Press, Fight for the Future, and others to launch a huge joint initiative urging Congress to investigate the NSA’s privacy-killing surveillance schemes.
The director of the NSA is on public record denying that the agency collects “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.” But at the same time, leaked internal documents reveal the NSA has been bragging about its unprecedented access to our phone records and private online communications.
Allegedly, they're extracting your email, voice, video conversations, photos, and your online social networking details from the servers of some of the biggest internet companies in the world -- a claim the companies have categorically denied.
President Obama responded to recent criticisms by suggesting that if “abuses [were] taking place, those members of Congress could raise those issues very aggressively. They're empowered to do so.”
In solidarity,
The Access Team
Access defends and extends the digital rights of users at risk around the world. By combining tech-driven policy, user engagement, and direct technical support, we fight for open and secure communications for all. To help protect the internet around the world, you can donate to Access. To reply, please email info@accessnow.org.
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It's a secret you deserve to know about
A secretive Canadian spy agency has been called out for spying on our sensitive personal data – without oversight. We need to put pressure on the government to stop this, and to tell Canadians exactly what’s going on. Stand up for your privacy by speaking out now while we have the government’s attention.
A U.S. government agency has been caught secretly spying on the private communications of millions of people like you – through their cell phones,1 and through popular online services like Google, Facebook, and Skype.2
Now, The Globe And Mail is reporting that Canada has its own agency operating in near-total secrecy that appears to be doing the same thing – recklessly collecting and storing our most sensitive private information in giant databases.3
This is important: We need to know what sensitive private data is being collected and stored, and why. Call on the government to tell us the truth about their reckless online spying program immediately.
The key agency collecting our sensitive information is called the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), which The Globe And Mail describes as an “ultrasecretive Canadian electronic-eavesdropping agency”.4
According to online surveillance expert Ron Deibert, CSEC spying gives them the power to “pinpoint not only who you are, but with whom you meet, with what frequency and duration, and at which locations.”5
Even the government’s own Privacy Commissioner’s Office has ominously stated, “we know very little specific information at this point, but we want to find out more.”6
We need to use this moment—when privacy issues are in the spotlight—to get answers. Tell the government that we deserve to know if our sensitive private information is being collected and stored in giant unsecured databases.
Whether it be pushing back against copyright censorship schemes, Big Telecom’s price-gouging, or threats to our online privacy – we know that when we work together there is nothing we cannot achieve.
Call on the government to stop this secretive spying scheme, and to tell Canadians exactly what’s going on. We deserve to know.
For our future,
Steve and Lindsey, on behalf of your OpenMedia.ca team
P.S. Fighting for our right to privacy has been a long haul, but we’re proud to have Canadians counting on us to keep our ears to the ground, and to keep amplifying your voices when it counts. It would mean a lot to our small team if you could chip what you can now. If you really believe in our work, please consider supporting our ongoing campaigns by making regular contributions as a special OpenMedia.ca Ally.
P.P.S. This is an international issue. OpenMedia is also joining with other groups to call on the U.S. government to stop its spying on the online activity of people around the world, including Canadians. Once you’ve raised your voice in Canada we hope you’ll also join the international campaign.
Footnotes
[1] NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily. Source: The Guardian.
[2] Secret program gives NSA, FBI backdoor access to Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft data. Source: The Verge.
[3] The Globe And Mail reports that CSEC has “acknowledged that some Canadian communications are scooped up into this dragnet.” Source: The Globe And Mail.
[4] Privacy watchdog on spy agency’s data collection: ‘We want to find out more’. Source: The Globe And Mail.
[5] Spy agencies have turned our digital lives inside out. We need to watch them. Source: The Globe And Mail.
[6] Supra note 4.
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Our government is doing it, too
Vast amounts of personal information are being gathered on Australians without a warrant.
It’s time we returned to the system where they get a warrant.
SUPPORTVast amounts of personal information are being gathered on Australians, without a warrant.
You might have heard of the United States Government’s clandestine electronic surveillance program, PRISM.
But the same thing is going on right here in Australia, done by our own government.
Australian government agencies made 293,501 requests last financial year for information about email addresses, telephone calls and the precise location of anyone carrying a smartphone, just by filling out a form.
It’s time we returned to the system where they get a warrant. Support our Bill today.
Law enforcement agencies have a job to do. But they couldn’t search your car without a warrant. And they couldn’t search your house without a warrant.
That's why I've just launched our Bill to make them get a warrant if they want access to data that allows them to build an astonishingly detailed map of a person's life.
Since Labor and the Coalition passed the Telecommunications Interception and Access Act of 2007, there haven’t been the right checks and balances on this kind of surveillance. We need to fix this.
Our Bill to Get A Warrant is the first step to pushing back against surveillance creep, here and overseas. George Orwell's 1984 wasn't intended to be an instruction manual – it was a warning.
Support the Australian Greens Bill that will insist that law enforcement agencies can only access your private data if they get a warrant.
This isn’t a new issue for the Greens. We worked to stop Labor's mandatory internet censorship and we are trying to defeat Labor's draconian data retention proposal.
Last week, I asked the government whether or not they have access to the PRISM spy system just revealed by whistleblowers.
They haven't responded yet, but we do know that they can spy on us, without a warrant, right now.
Tell them to Get a Warrant before looking at your movements, your call list or your email traffic.
Yours,
Scott
P.S. I and Green MPs around the world have followed these issues for years. You can follow me on Twitter @SenatorLudlam for the latest on PRISM and the net filter 2.0, live updates from Senate hearings and more.
Tell internet company CEO's to stand up for privacy
Tell internet company CEOs if they want to maintain customers' trust, they have to stand up for privacy. Ask them to call on the US Congress to launch an urgent investigation of the recently revealed mass surveillance programs.
On Thursday, The Guardian and The Washington Post reported the US government is engaged in mass surveillance of users everywhere -- through direct access to the world's major tech giants. Many of the companies accused of participating in these surveillance programs have said they weren't involved, but denials are not enough.
We need these major internet players to lend their weight to demand limits to government surveillance of their international users.
The US National Security Agency (NSA) is reportedly extracting your audio, video, photographs, emails, documents, and connection logs from nine leading tech companies: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. According to these allegations, the companies had to comply in surveilling hundreds of millions of users around the world in direct violation of your right to privacy.
US government snooping affects you, regardless of where you live, because it can take advantage of the fact that much of the world's communications flow through the US -- potentially providing unprecedented access to every last piece of your communications.
The internet companies say they don't want to spy on users, and some -- like Facebook and Google -- have asked for the ability to disclose more about national security requests.
Tell them to go one step further by demanding an investigation into US mass surveillance programs and calling for strong legislation to curb abuses.
We entrusted them with our most personal data with the expectation that they will do everything in their power to defend our right to privacy. Now we need them to defend that trust.
Join Access in asking the CEOs of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple to condemn global surveillance and demand that the US Congress uncover the truth about these alarming allegations.
In solidarity,
The Access Team