5 ms·
If you feel you can not take the risks yourself, there still are things you can do. 1) Skip the vacation this year, give every spare dime you've got to the EFF
by Amadou 13y ago
If you feel you can not take the risks yourself, there still are things you can do.
1) Skip the vacation this year, give every spare dime you've got to the EFF and the ACLU. Push to have your company make charitable donations to those organizations too. Think of it as outsourcing the fix.
2) Talk about it as much as you can to as many people as you can - be unabashed and vocal in your support of people who do take the risks that come with fighting back.
The worst thing you can do is nothing.
- protomyth 13y agoThe EFF's focus is too broad and I haven't seen them go after an election. We need an no-compromise organization with one focus that scares the hell out of a politician on election day. Like them or hate them, the NRA should be our template.
- Amadou 13y agoDon't let the fact that such an organization does not exist stop you from supporting the EFF today. The enemy of the good is the perfect.
- protomyth 13y agoGiven adammil's comment, they cannot currently do effective election lobbying.
- wehadfun 13y ago+1 "the NRA should be our template"
- schoen 13y agoEFF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is not allowed to endorse or oppose political candidates. (I work there.)
- protomyth 13y agoThen they are definitely not the answer to what we need. Sadly, fear drives elections and tech doesn't scare anyone.
- andyakb 13y agoThat doesnt stop you from promoting "issues" and highlighting a stance a candidate has on those issues, you simply cannot use the magic words [1]. This is a fairly strange defense because 501(c)(3) organizations are almost synonymous with this type of lobbying. 1: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/the-rules-that-govern-501c4s/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections...
- adammil 13y agoElections are not the only place to drive change. I donate to the EFF monthly because I was impressed to see them actively challenging things in court, which in my opinion is far more effective at driving change long term.
- protomyth 13y agoNo, but it saves a lot of time in court if the law is what you want in the first place.
- nilsbunger 13y agoI'd say we need a "tea party" for privacy. If there is real representation in congress for privacy, then things can really change.
- protomyth 13y agoWell, yes and a lot of the people in the Tea Party wanted the government to get out of their lives and pocketbooks and this would fit. but.... Any loosely organized group of people, be it the Tea Party or Occupy has a serious problem these days. Your opponents can define you by your edges and they will. The media loves attacking people that don't fit the politics of their network or newspaper. These media then search for the most misguided hanger-on at the edges and make them the face of your movement. Many incidents are misreported to fit their narrative. It minimizes the damage these groups can do and makes them feel bad when they get home and see totally different reporting than what occurred. My favorite is to show a tight shot of the counter-protest making it out to be the same size when it is only 10 to 20 people or show garbage left from another protest as if it came from the one they don't like. Not to say they cannot be successful. A number of Tea Party folks got elected, and the fight at the 2012 Republican Convention showed who was actually scarred. In the long term movements do win, but we need short term solutions. Now, you can demonize the NRA, but it has moneys and knows how to motivate its members. It scares officials during and election and can target races. The funny thing is the money in tech dwarfs the money in guns, but the 2nd is better defended than the 4th or 5th.
- anigbrowl 13y agoYour opponents can define you by your edges and they will...Many incidents are misreported to fit their narrative People frequently do the same thing when complaining about the government about the government of course - like the OP's article implying people are being herded into camps: 'At best our government considers us meaningless sheep to be herded/slaughtered at will,' This is based on the shooting of an old man who shot his gun at police. Now, I'm not a fan of SWAT teams or the militarization of police, but I can't help noting that the police were called to the residence after he had threatened to shoot his roommate/host and his daughter, and that police spent time trying to negotiate with him after he had shot at officers. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/09/arkansas-standoff-107-year-old-man-roommate/2785561/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/09/arkansa...
- api 13y agoI'd study a lot of right-wing organizations including the NRA. The left sometimes wins the intellectual battle, but the right always wins on logistics.