4 ms·

Mass protests planned over web NSA spying revelations

126 points by oracuk 13y ago

imjared 13y ago
My local (Washington DC) protest has 312 people "going" according to Facebook. With any given Facebook event, I've found there's usually a huge dropoff between those who have RSVP'd and who shows up. I think the spirit of this is great but "mass protest" might be a bit of a misnomer.
- Kylekramer 13y ago
  The lack of "mass" is going to be a real problem. If you add up the visible numbers of people following their social sites, it is hovering under 25,000 with about 20,000 of that number coming from their subreddit. It would be fine if this was pitched as an ongoing, building movement like OWS or the Tea Party, but the focus is all on a one day protest that currently looks to be ill attended. This could quickly turn into a prototypical slactivism joke.
  - abraininavat 13y ago
    Also, the interactive map on http://www.restorethefourth.net/ http://www.restorethefourth.net/ is completely broken. Clicking on any of the locations for more information leads you straight to a 404. Judging from the comments on the subreddit, it's not something I want to get my family involved with anyway. There's an unfortunte lack of serious effort here.
  - utnick 13y ago
    Yep pretty unfortunate... Its hard to build a large protest using just reddit. You really need large organizations to get behind you, MoveOn, Unions, A.N.S.W.E.R, but all of these groups are of course very quiet because its a democrat in the white house doing this. If Romney or Bush were in charge, I think the protests would be much greater.
    - jlgaddis 13y ago
      Yeah, the last one[0] really had a crappy turnout. We only got enough people together here to fill two buses and travel ~800 miles one way to attend. It wasn't just Reddit, of course, and obviously it had a couple of fairly well-known media personalities promoting it but the majority of the organizing and attendees I saw was because of Reddit. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_to_Restore_Sanity_and/or_Fear http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_to_Restore_Sanity_and/or_...
      - utnick 13y ago
        Yes the initial idea may have started on reddit, but then comedy central, moveon, afl-cio, and other large democratic groups started promoting it and thats when it got big. If those groups don't hop on, your just not going to have a big in-person protest. And the eff is the only group I have seen promoting this
  - sneak 13y ago
    The day after Snowden disclosed his identity, we rallied at noon in Union Square. 50 people showed up, and half of them were press. :/
- lifeguard 13y ago
  It is about social signaling. There will be many sympathizers unaware of the event until they see people gathering.
kimlelly 13y ago
People, use this for secure communication & activity coordination: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5983913 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5983913
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
lifeguard 13y ago
A camera phone is your best protection against police abuse. Make a 50% mixture of Malox ant-acid and water. If you get hit with OC (not CS), have a friend pour a little into each eye. Spraying it with a squirt bottle on exposed skin offers some relief also. 3M painter's masks make excellent and cheap gas masks. Have it assembled and fit to your head before you leave the house. The OC floats around and often is invisible. DO NOT WEAR CONTACT LENSES! Put a newspaper in your backpack. If the police start shooting their paint balls, flip your backpack around and wear it on your chest like a breast plate. Never, ever touch the police as this is a felony assault. If asked if you have a permit, say yes it is in my pocket and it is a copy of the Constitution. Solidaridad!!!
- kimlelly 13y ago
  And please do remember to switch your mobile phones to Flight Mode! Because, to get an idea, just watch this clip: http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention/ http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention/
  - lifeguard 13y ago
    This makes the phone useless. Leave it on, recording, and uploading. Turn it off on the way to the protest and after, but leave it on there. Burner smart phones are <$100 if you want to be more anonymous.
    - sneak 13y ago
      Oh, the one you turned on in the exact same place you turned off the one minutes earlier that's tied to your home address and credit card? Right. Oh, look, your real identity at your home residential IP is the very first view on the video uploaded to this google account created yesterday on a burner phone that just happened to be turned on at your house before going to the protest. You're fooling yourself if you think a burner phone is the solution to wholesale wiretapping.
      - 13y ago
loceng 13y ago
I'd love to see NSA's predictions of participation numbers before they happen, who are the leaders and organizers who will most likely make this happen, and to report once social surges start to occur and then once physical mobilizations start to occur (using phone locations data)..
redwood 13y ago
http://www.restorethefourth.net/protests/new-york/nyc/ http://www.restorethefourth.net/protests/new-york/nyc/ can anyone fix this?

126 points by oracuk 13y ago

My local (Washington DC) protest has 312 people "going" according to Facebook. With any given Facebook event, I've found there's usually a huge dropoff between those who have RSVP'd and who shows up. I think the spirit of this is great but "mass protest" might be a bit of a misnomer.

Kylekramer 13y ago
The lack of "mass" is going to be a real problem. If you add up the visible numbers of people following their social sites, it is hovering under 25,000 with about 20,000 of that number coming from their subreddit. It would be fine if this was pitched as an ongoing, building movement like OWS or the Tea Party, but the focus is all on a one day protest that currently looks to be ill attended. This could quickly turn into a prototypical slactivism joke.
- abraininavat 13y ago
  Also, the interactive map on http://www.restorethefourth.net/ http://www.restorethefourth.net/ is completely broken. Clicking on any of the locations for more information leads you straight to a 404. Judging from the comments on the subreddit, it's not something I want to get my family involved with anyway. There's an unfortunte lack of serious effort here.
- utnick 13y ago
  Yep pretty unfortunate... Its hard to build a large protest using just reddit. You really need large organizations to get behind you, MoveOn, Unions, A.N.S.W.E.R, but all of these groups are of course very quiet because its a democrat in the white house doing this. If Romney or Bush were in charge, I think the protests would be much greater.
  - jlgaddis 13y ago
    Yeah, the last one[0] really had a crappy turnout. We only got enough people together here to fill two buses and travel ~800 miles one way to attend. It wasn't just Reddit, of course, and obviously it had a couple of fairly well-known media personalities promoting it but the majority of the organizing and attendees I saw was because of Reddit. [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_to_Restore_Sanity_and/or_Fear http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_to_Restore_Sanity_and/or_...
    - utnick 13y ago
      Yes the initial idea may have started on reddit, but then comedy central, moveon, afl-cio, and other large democratic groups started promoting it and thats when it got big. If those groups don't hop on, your just not going to have a big in-person protest. And the eff is the only group I have seen promoting this
- sneak 13y ago
  The day after Snowden disclosed his identity, we rallied at noon in Union Square. 50 people showed up, and half of them were press. :/
lifeguard 13y ago
It is about social signaling. There will be many sympathizers unaware of the event until they see people gathering.

kimlelly 13y ago

People, use this for secure communication & activity coordination: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5983913 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5983913

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

lifeguard 13y ago

A camera phone is your best protection against police abuse. Make a 50% mixture of Malox ant-acid and water. If you get hit with OC (not CS), have a friend pour a little into each eye. Spraying it with a squirt bottle on exposed skin offers some relief also. 3M painter's masks make excellent and cheap gas masks. Have it assembled and fit to your head before you leave the house. The OC floats around and often is invisible. DO NOT WEAR CONTACT LENSES! Put a newspaper in your backpack. If the police start shooting their paint balls, flip your backpack around and wear it on your chest like a breast plate. Never, ever touch the police as this is a felony assault. If asked if you have a permit, say yes it is in my pocket and it is a copy of the Constitution. Solidaridad!!!

kimlelly 13y ago
And please do remember to switch your mobile phones to Flight Mode! Because, to get an idea, just watch this clip: http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention/ http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention/
- lifeguard 13y ago
  This makes the phone useless. Leave it on, recording, and uploading. Turn it off on the way to the protest and after, but leave it on there. Burner smart phones are <$100 if you want to be more anonymous.
  - sneak 13y ago
    Oh, the one you turned on in the exact same place you turned off the one minutes earlier that's tied to your home address and credit card? Right. Oh, look, your real identity at your home residential IP is the very first view on the video uploaded to this google account created yesterday on a burner phone that just happened to be turned on at your house before going to the protest. You're fooling yourself if you think a burner phone is the solution to wholesale wiretapping.
    - 13y ago

loceng 13y ago

I'd love to see NSA's predictions of participation numbers before they happen, who are the leaders and organizers who will most likely make this happen, and to report once social surges start to occur and then once physical mobilizations start to occur (using phone locations data)..

redwood 13y ago

http://www.restorethefourth.net/protests/new-york/nyc/ http://www.restorethefourth.net/protests/new-york/nyc/ can anyone fix this?