On July 4th, Tell The Government To Restore The 4th Amendment

from the restore-the-4th dept

Given all of the revelations about government surveillance over the past few weeks, there's been a rapid grassroots effort to "Restore the Fourth" -- telling the federal government to "restore the 4th Amendment" on July 4th, Independence Day here in the US. There are going to be protests and gatherings around the country, so see if you can find the one closest to you and stop by. Also, if you have not already done so, please sign on to the Stop Watching Us petition, which has over 500,000 signatures already, and that number keeps going up and up. If you're interested, the EFF also has some additional info about various things that you can do.

On the Fourth of July, we're supposed to remember the freedoms we've always believed this country stood for. We normally do this by doing things like watching fireworks. Perhaps this July 4th, it would be wise to think about all that the government has been doing to stamp out the 4th Amendment with things like secret courts, secret interpretations of the law, and vast dragnets of information gathering on the public by a duplicitous federal government, who still refuses to give a straight story on what it's doing, and under what legal authority. It's time that stopped, and the only way that's going to happen is if people speak up and let the government know that they believe in the 4th Amendment, and what's being done by the NSA, the DOJ, the FBI and the intelligence-industrial complex has gone way beyond what is acceptable, and the American people demand that it comes to an immediate end.
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Filed Under: 4th amendment, july 4th, nsa, nsa surveillance, privacy, restore the fourth


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  • icon
    rw (profile), 2 Jul 2013 @ 3:21pm

    It's way past time to reign in the various law enforcement and spy organizations. I don't like living in the US since it's turned into the former Soviet Union.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    James Clapper, 2 Jul 2013 @ 3:40pm

    Good, good

    Thank goodness! We've been just completely swamped over at the NSA HQ with the utterly nutso amount of data that we've collected - having a nice list of people who oppose such things aggregated from social media and the petition above will give us a MUCH better idea of who to target.

    Thanks and least-unworst regards,
    James Clapper

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 3:49pm

      Re: Good, good

      [The above comment was satire, I was not actually trying to impersonate James Clapper, oh god don't CFAA me.]

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        PRMan, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:19pm

        Re: Re: Good, good

        Too late. Didn't you hear about the teen? Adding LOL to the next post is too late.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      CK20XX, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:01pm

      Re: Good, good

      (I know this is satire, but it feels worth responding to anyway.)

      You know, internet file sharers experience a certain phenomenon when they download a complete pack of ROMS for the NES, Genesis, or any other big system. Suddenly they have thousands of games, more than they even know what to do with, so they usually end up not touching most of them. A complete game collection like that is only a shiny trophy for people with hoarding disorders. It doesn't provide much actual value to them since they'll only play a few games out of the whole pack anyway.

      I think that long list of people you're preparing will be as useful to you as a pack of ROMS. Have fun trying to target millions of people at once!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        PRMan, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:20pm

        Re: Re: Good, good

        I did that once. You know what I ended up playing? The games that I own... Because I missed them.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:38pm

          Re: Re: Re: Good, good

          Indeed - playing NES/SNES ROMs on a hacked XBOX is far more convenient than busting out the multiple boxes of game systems I have collected over the years.

          I still pick up game cartridges at yard sales for a buck or two when I see them, since they're more valuable than that on ebay already. Someday I'll have an awesome collection that my kids can play with and eventually sell as a lot.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:22pm

        Re: Re: Good, good

        I've experienced this with Steam Sale and Humble Bundles.
        I want to support the indie devs so I generally support all the Humble Bundles (paying more than average at the time) and get all these games. I think I've only played like 3 of them.
        With the Steam sales I grab anything I think looks like it might be fun and affordable. Again, I end up with a mess of games I've never played or only played about an hour of.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:35pm

          Re: Re: Re: Good, good

          I do similar with the humble bundles - except I take it a step further...

          I load them all on my kids' computers so they can play them on my behalf, because I know I won't have time. I've noted that my kids have played quite a few of them, and this makes me feel like it was money well spent.

          I also occasionally will share a torrent link to a humble bundle game (they openly distribute them via torrent as well) with a friend or two so they can try out a game. Most of those same friends have now become humble bundle purchases themselves.

          Whenever I end up with multiple steam keys for the same games (common now with people who buy lots of humble bundles), I give them away to coworkers or friends so they can "own" them on Steam as well.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 3:42pm

    Egypt Protest Slogans

    "Wake up America - Obama Backs up a Fascist Regime in Egypt"


    "Obama Supports Terrorisim"


    "Obama and Paterson Support Terrorism in Egypt"


    "From Tahrir Square to the U.S. Media & Muslim Brotherhood
    -Obama you jerk. Muslim Brotherhoods are killing the Egyptians so how come they can guarantee you the security of Israel.
    -Hey Obama, your deal with the Muslim Brotherhood is unsuccessful.
    -Obama you idiot, keep in mind that Egypt is not Muslim brotherhoods and if you don't believe that, go to see what's happening in Tahrir Square >."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous, 2 Jul 2013 @ 3:55pm

    If anything, I will be burning an American flag this July 4th.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:40pm

      Re:

      Congrats! Burn one for a few other countries too while you're at it - lord knows most of them deserve it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      rapnel, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:46pm

      Re:

      I had conflicting thoughts when I read that. But then I thought that it would be fitting if you saved that action for a protest venue. Then I thought what would be even more fitting is if you wore a uniform. To me that would be an excellent illustration of the very real conflict we now face and that the actions of the government are on a course that will destroy the bastion of freedom they claim to serve.

      And we will burn.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 9:06pm

      Re:

      make sure it's one that is made in China, most are.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
      identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 3:51am

      Re:

      If anything, I will be burning an American flag this July 4th.

      I imagine that's how Mike celebrates the Fourth as well.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      The Real Michael, 3 Jul 2013 @ 5:42am

      Re:

      I don't know whether or not you're a US citizen but I'll just assume you are. Burning the US flag would be a gesture against the country as a whole, not the few who are ruining it for the rest of us. There are plenty of us who are opposed to what the government has been doing, as I'm sure you already know, so I feel that it's the wrong thing to do.

      United we stand, divided we fall.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Larry, 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:43pm

    Not just the fourth

    Restore ALL the constitutional guarantees (except the 18th, that one was pretty stupid).

    As American's we are all only "safe" from our government if we are afforded ALL of our rights!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 2 Jul 2013 @ 4:56pm

    I'll take the time to reread the Declaration of Independence and see if I can find where the founding fathers expressed a desire for a "safe" place to live, no matter the cost to their fellow countrymen.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 5:32pm

      Response to: Capitalist Lion Tamer on Jul 2nd, 2013 @ 4:56pm

      Probably right next to the place where they write about how much time you can free up by buying other humans as chattel and having them do your grunt work for you.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 9:07pm

      Re:

      it's right there in the preamble.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        John Fenderson (profile), 3 Jul 2013 @ 9:33am

        Re: Re:

        Are you referring to the "safety and happiness" line?

        Neither of those are referred to as inalienable rights, as "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" are.

        But among the inalienable rights, the issue is to what extent we're willing to sacrifice Liberty in exchange for Life. Personally, this I think this is a false choice in the first place, but that's how the debate is being framed.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          btrussell (profile), 4 Jul 2013 @ 5:53pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          None of that has anything to do with this. Are our governments representing the people? Secret laws and secret courts? You decide.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 5:32pm

    lets move to another planet

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 5:33pm

    One day isn't going to be enough

    To truly get the message across, it must be an ongoing protest. To protest for one day and go home gives us a negative image. It will give politicians the A-OK to sneak in laws or mechanisms that are just as bad, if not worse when we're not looking (like CISPA, months after the SOPA blackout).

    It will also tell the citizens of other countries that we're too lazy to go on longer than a day. Occupy was an exception, and even that fizzled out of the public eye; it didn't have much a clear message (some say "anti-cronyism," others say "anti-capitalism," and a few even say "check your privilege") and brought no clear change for the better (unless you come from a Bizarro world where sweeping anti-protest laws and extrajudicial detainment are good ideas).

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 6:55pm

      Re: One day isn't going to be enough

      Occupy ended up "not having a message" when the media started drilling it into your head that they didn't have a message.

      Their message was clear all along, get the corporations out of government. All the social justice movements and socialists who tried to piggyback off the movement were mere sideshows to the main message at hand.

      The truth is: protests are always going to have a negative light in our political climate. It's either going to be slandered into the dirt, portrayed as a collection of communists and marxists, or spun to be an extremist movement that could turn violent at any minute. You can't have a "regular" protest because the police and government have become too good at infiltrating and distorting protest movements.

      I am of the opinion that Occupy was the last large protest movement America is going to have for the next decade.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 6:13pm

    I agree that one day won't be enough. Everything coming out of Washington and most of the MSM is basically attempts to weather it out and support the programs in charge.

    Reddit also has this about the protests, the EFF, and a petition.

    Security and this government have spent one shit ton of money to be able to spy on everyone and to pay third party contractors such as HB Gary. No one is going to willingly let that go unless forced to. That means day after day till it sinks home.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 6:17pm

    It's amazing. We celebrate fourth of July by firing fireworks made in China and waving flags made in Japan.

    [Btw, I do not know where these things are really made]

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 9:20pm

      Re:

      that is what you are celebrating, your freedom to buy and sell things to other countries, or from other countries, would you be more free if you were only allowed to use Fireworks ONLY from America, or flags made only in America ?

      You are celebrating your freedom to get your fireworks and flags from wherever you damn well like. Even America if you want too (no one ever wants too thought).

      Sometimes I think Americans do not even KNOW what their freedoms are that they are so passionate about.

      What do you think happens to protesters in China for example, or how do you think the Chinese Government would respond to a petition ? See many protests in Russia ? or North Korea ?

      So go ahead use your Constitutional freedoms to protest your loss of freedoms of the Constitutional.

      Use your free speech rights to speak up again your loss of free speech rights.

      So use your Constitutional rights to show the Government how you have lost your constitutional rights. It's the only way you can show the Government how you have lost those rights is to exercise them.

      Except for the one big flaw in your idea, by using your rights you display the fact that YOU STILL HAVE THEM.

      Quite a dichotomy!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 12:30am

        Re: Re:

        You are a moron.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous, 3 Jul 2013 @ 3:43am

        Re: Re:

        God gives us rights. Man gives us government. Which do YOU trust?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          The Real Michael, 3 Jul 2013 @ 6:01am

          Re: Re: Re:

          God gives us free will to choose between right and wrong, but that freedom does not come without strings attached: we are responsible for our actions.

          Just so, those responsible for upholding our rights have made it their mission to infringe upon them, using whatever justification they can dream up, to impose their will upon the population. The Constitution and Bill of Rights make it very clear that government is not allowed to violate those rights. Due to our complacent attitude, we now have a tyranny of elitists and activists running roughshod in Washington.

          Perhaps this corrupt government is punishment by God for losing our moral compass. After all, if the people are predominantly corrupt, greedy and immoral, so too will be those that govern us -- a reflection of who we are as a society.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 6:47am

          Re: Re: Re:

          name some rights that God has given you ?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          God, 3 Jul 2013 @ 9:36am

          Re: Re: Re:

          Don't drag me into this mess.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        John Fenderson (profile), 3 Jul 2013 @ 9:42am

        Re: Re:

        Except for the one big flaw in your idea, by using your rights you display the fact that YOU STILL HAVE THEM.


        ..and using them is the only way to keep them.

        It's hard to argue that our rights have been increasingly infringed on by government and corporations, and that this trend will continue unless it is resisted.

        Yes, some people engage in hyperbolic rhetoric ("the bill of rights has been shredded!"), but nonetheless, such rhetoric is pointing in the direction of truth.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 12:14pm

        Re: Re:

        Great speech. How do I exercise my right to privacy again now that it has been violated?

        Thanks!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 6:50pm

    Heh, people think petitions actually do something. They're more worthless than protesting.

    I'll probably end up signing it anyway, but it's still silly that the best we can do to combat gross over-reach is putting our name on a piece of paper.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jul 2013 @ 9:33pm

    I bet you still take the holiday

    You will use that time to complain and protest, at the same time taking the holiday, and have your turkey and have some beers.

    If you were serious, and believed you are actually "repressed" by your Government, you would refuse to accept the holiday AND WORK, but you will instead use your grated freedoms to protest those freedoms on the day you celebrate those freedoms.

    You will use your Constitutional rights to protest and petition, ON the DAY you celebrate those rights, you choose to exercise those rights, and what is your message..

    "we don't have these rights anymore", It kind of ends up being a hollow argument when you do it that way.

    I guess you could simple throw out the Constitution all together, then you could be subject to the politics of countries like China, Russia, or North Korea, how do you think you would go with a petition to Putin ? or a protest in China ? They would probably run you over with a tank, then you would simply disappear. Or in Russia, if you are a reporter, (or opposing politician) you might 'accidently' get killed, or 'accidently' eat some Polodium.

    If you think your phones and internet are monitored in the US, GO THE CHINA !!!!

    No the US is really hard done by, but you use your Constitutional rights to protest those rights, on the day you celebrate those rights, and see if you can do it without looking hypocritical.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Lurker Keith, 2 Jul 2013 @ 11:16pm

      Re: I bet you still take the holiday

      Using one inalienable right to protest the violation of a different right is not the same as using a right that was taken away to protest said lost right.

      The Freedom of Speech is separate, but related, to the right not to have the government invading your privacy for no adequate reason.


      Also, most Americans don't get a say in if they're off for the holiday or not. The vast majority of businesses in the US aren't even open on the 4th of July (those that are tend to contribute to travel, eating or safety).

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      The Real Michael, 3 Jul 2013 @ 6:13am

      Re: I bet you still take the holiday

      "I guess you could simple throw out the Constitution all together, then you could be subject to the politics of countries like China, Russia, or North Korea, how do you think you would go with a petition to Putin ? or a protest in China ? They would probably run you over with a tank, then you would simply disappear. Or in Russia, if you are a reporter, (or opposing politician) you might 'accidently' get killed, or 'accidently' eat some Polodium."

      If you protest here in the US, you can be indefinitely detained without probable cause, i.e. your rights are revoked. As Mike mentioned, we live in an age of secret courts, secret laws and highly invasive spying. We're on the fast track to becoming everything stood against in the past century: a totalitarian regime.

      Telling people who disagree with you to move to another country is insulting and does nothing to remedy the situation, a situation us Americans shouldn't have to tolerate in the first place.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous, 3 Jul 2013 @ 2:49pm

        Re: Re: I bet you still take the holiday

        Exactly.
        When people say something along the lines of, "If you don't like it here, why don't you go somewhere else?", I tell them 3 things:
        Running away from a problem doesn't solve it.
        There is no Utopia.
        Perhaps that's not my mission in life.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 12:17pm

      Re: I bet you still take the holiday

      Saying that a right has been violated isn't the same thing as saying the right doesn't exist anymore. In fact quite the opposite, rights you don't have anymore can't be violated. Furthermore saying a right has been violated isn't the same thing as saying it's always violated.

      So, any other shitty logic you want to throw around or were you done?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 12:18pm

        Re: Re: I bet you still take the holiday

        Oh, I forgot about the reverse nirvana fallacy. Sorry about that.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous, 3 Jul 2013 @ 2:52pm

      Re: I bet you still take the holiday

      "GO THE CHINA". That reads like an instruction manual printed in China.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Jul 2013 @ 3:35am

    it's not just getting the government to start restoring the 4th, it's getting courts to re-recognise it as well. for far too long, courts have been able to reinterpret almost all the Constitution in ways other than it was meant, mainly so as to be able to compensate industries that fail to adapt to today's technical world and keep making enormous profits off of ages old methods by suing people for small 'violations' of what the people always have done and always will do, share things!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Jul 2013 @ 8:15am

    I think it'

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Jul 2013 @ 8:17am

    Flag

    I think it's appropriate this year to fly the flag inverted.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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