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Reset the Net

Last posted Mar 16, 2014 at 02:01AM EDT. Added Mar 15, 2014 at 03:27PM EDT
7 posts from 7 users

So I found this in my mail today.

"On Monday, Edward Snowden spoke to a crowd of thousands at SXSW, and it seriously felt like he was reading our minds.

“The NSA is setting fire to the future of the internet,” Snowden said, “and you guys are the firefighters.” He went on to issue a call to arms for the tech community, saying that “encryption works” as proven by the fact that the U.S. government still has no idea what documents he has provided to journalists (1).

We’ve been waiting for the right moment to tell you, and we can’t wait any longer. We have a plan to stamp out the NSA’s fire once and for all: on June 5th, 2014 -- the anniversary of the first Snowden NSA story -- we will Reset the Net, and take our privacy back.

It sounds impossible, but it’s not. Click here to watch the video and find out how we’re going to Reset the Net.

This week we learned in a shocking NY Times story that the FISA court had secretly approved widespread sharing of raw private data across the government (2). It’s a long article, and you should read it, but here’s the TL;DR: thanks to so-called “Fusion Centers” and secret laws, the local cops in your town have at their fingertips everything about you that the NSA has collected over the past 5 years. Without a warrant.

It gets worse. Yesterday morning we learned that the NSA is using automation to hack and gain control of ‘millions’ of computers (3).

Governments have abused the Internet and twisted into something it was never intended to be. They’ve stolen our most private moments, and with them our most basic freedoms to communicate and be ourselves.

We can’t afford to wait while politicians debate. We have the power to fight mass surveillance right now. Are you in? Click here to help Reset the Net.

Everyone has been waiting for some resounding action that meets the problem of government spying head on. This is our moment to rally and realize our power. We don’t need anyone’s permission, but we need everyone’s participation. If you’re a developer, designer, or cryptographer and want to help, please reply to this email and get in touch.

Want to help right now? Share this on social media. It's already spreading really fast and you can help push it over the edge!

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter"

What do you guys think?

I hate to be cynical, but all this Internet Apoc business is far to loose for my liking.

I've heard this shtick 1 to 100 times before, each with another slogan to 'save the internet', resulting in nothing exactly happening or anything really significant getting done outside of estranged protesting and incoherent rumblings. A rather interesting point came up when watching Law and Order SVU, in that the law does not often catch up with technology.

I often have my own spammed mail from some rather estranged guys whom proclaim everything a liberal touches bans guns, and those messages often fade away because of the 'Boy whom cried Wolf' mentality.

To me, the only real way we will see the 'end of the internet and muh freedoms' is when there is quite literally a drastic change where the internet does literally end and the freedom to use it ends.

I have made a similar comment to another privacy video so am gonna post something similar to here.
Big companies don't give a single shit about your privacy. They only care about how to use that info to maintain run and make a profit off of it. They need all those personal datas to sell other companies, advertisementers, other websites exc..
You don't pay to every fucking shit on the internet because of it. How do you suppose to maintain the internet without it?
Also nobody needs to share every single fucking info of themselves. Sites, companies have policies about privacy. Nothing has been done out of the law. You have been warned with those policies and rules about your privacy. So it is nonsense to bitch about leaking of the personal info. Because you are fucking responsible for all of them.

Of course i am not defending big brother cospiracy or something. This is the real world. Instead of useless worldwide boycott projects or days, start to protect your own privacy by yourself.
If you don't want them to kill you, don't give them a fucking weapon.

/pointlessonlineprivacyacts

@ARobotNamedJoe:
I'm gonna need links OP. Links would have been very helpful to include in your post.

@AlexMercer:
Though your delivery was vocally frustrated, your points are all valid. But the issue isn't whining about web companies who have data you've lawfully given to them. It's about government agencies that take data intrusively, unlawfully, and without your permission, witting or unwitting. And you're right, one of, if not the best way to fix some of this is to learn to protect your own privacy, which is exactly what this call-to-arms is suggesting; "the NSA relies on our mistakes." The problem is that the less than one percent or so of the population that feels strongly enough to actually start protecting their privacy at all won't be enough to actually put a meaningful dent in the problem. It'll be enough for those few at first, but like small islands scattered about they will all slowly be reclaimed by the sea that rages around them. The true purpose of events such as these are memetic in nature. It is less important that you "get it done" on that day than that you convince as many people as possible that something has to be done; to get it on people's radar, make what is important to you important to them. Each subsequent event is about adjusting the majority culture which surrounds internet use. This topic seems to evoke strong emotion out of you, but here you're mostly preaching to the choir. Why not use this event as an opportunity to seek out new converts to your congregation, in meatworld?

@Chickenhound the Cynical:
You know, I have this dog. This dog has been with me for a long time and I love him to death. This dog can also be quite the whiner. Every time he needs something from me, he'll walk up to where I'm sitting, lick my hand, sit back on his legs, and put one or both his paws on my leg and stare at me with big puppy-dog eyes. He guilt trips me hard every time he wants something, and I always get up, always give in because I just can't help myself. A lot of times he'll wait just until I've sat back down before he'll ask me for the next thing he wants. And sometimes it'll turn out he doesn't want anything in particular. Naturally this can become very frustrating very quickly, but I endure it. Because I love that dog, and I understand that it is just his nature. He is worth every moment of frustration by mere virtue of his existence. And much like this dog, I love the Internet. I don't regret any of the time I've enjoyed with it. It is the people I have observed in it that make the Internet the loveable thing that it is. From the most hopelessly hopeful social crusaders, to the most wretchedly cynical doubters, and trolls that have feelings too, the Internet provides a window of authenticity to human nature that "reality" simply does not have for one reason or another, and I love what I have seen through it. My faith in and love for humanity has been restored to such a degree and in a way that I feel would have been impossible without it. So I do not begrudge anyone of the desire to "save the Internet". It is simply in their nature to try again and again, just as it is in my nature to love this quality in them. On that day, June 5, like many a day before, my dog will call for my attention. And whether anything comes of it or not, I will answer out of love and understanding. Because it is worth loving.

You know, originally, I was going to include some statement about preferring to act and regret it than not act and regret it, but since typing this paragraph I have changed my mind. I would instead say, to act IS to be without regret.

Skeletor-sm

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