The NSA spying story has been around for a week now...what has anyone here done?

[brooklynite]

Written a letter to your elected officials? Called them?

Written a letter to the Editor to influence others?

Joined an organization that lobbies for policy changes?

Talked to a candidates about what it will take to get your support?

--- or ---
signed an online "petition" and vented on a discussion board?

Considering how transcendentally important people claim this issue is, I haven't seen must evidence of action other than "that's it; I'm leaving the Democratic Party".

[liberal_at_heart]

1. I always call or send an email when there is a policy I don't agree with. I'm sure there are

probably many on here who do.

[NoOneMan]

2. I've staked out a transparent position via character assassination to ignore the core problem

Oh man, it'd be so much easier if the Democratic Party just believed in what was right, instead of making us twist our panties into a knot on this one.

[Shrike47]

3. Started using burner phones and speaking in code?

[HappyMe]

4. Actually, I did email the Congress critter

and Senator asking them what gives with this. I told them that I'm not super concerned, but any concrete evidence or info would be appreciated.


Other than that, not a thing. Last petition I signed was a paycheck fairness one. I sent emails about that too.

[Laelth]

5. I have read a lot and I have learned a great deal.

I have written a couple of essays on the subject, too, but I think it's important to get the facts before acting.

btw, I was quite proud of our President when he said the same thing at a presser a couple of years ago. It is important to get the facts first.

-Laelth

[The Straight Story]

6. Here is what I did (and I suggest others do)

Read the discussions at hand and take some notes.

Come next election cycle ask those running what they think about it and vote accordingly since those are the people we give power to when it comes to making changes.

We did that last year and previous years and am pretty sure we had folks who said they had our backs when it came to privacy (and many other things).

Come election season there will be some who need to be fired.

But then the whole dog and pony show will start over where the bankers and rich people get to have dinner with our people in power and have some automated system answer our calls.

While lobbyists are writing the legislation that they want "their" candidate to push we will write letters that make their way into a filing cabinet never to be seen or faxes we send that are handed out to the homeless to use as toilet paper.

[liberal_at_heart]

7. +1

[Sunlei]

11. don't use a form fax, the gov (BLM) counts all form letters even 25k of them as one complaint :P

emails they just delete. Had them complain they got to many emails and requested snail mail only to silence complaints.

We'd have to FOI the Gov. and see if they really do have a list of emails received under a certain week or month. No one I know of has done a FOI act request to check if the Gov really does save Americans calls, letters, emails. Like they are supposed to!

I go to the white house website and use the call in numbers posted there (people answer those phones and take the message) and there is a web form, I use that too.

[Savannahmann]

8. Well when I write about this issue

It's sort of like that song "It's me again Margret" because I've written about the PATRIOT ACT to my Senators and Congressman many many times. Is that what you wanted to hear? Or did you think that my passion ends where the website does?

[KittyWampus]

9. I've tried to ignore the reactionary screamers and become informed & seek recommendations

on how to improve the NSA and the laws under which it operates.

Someone just posted an editorial by Richard Clarke that had recommendations.

It's a shame more DU'ers don't take the time to seek out more information…

[Sunlei]

10. I deleted all the tracking cookies,reformat and I asked in my guilds vent who's the spy!! ?

[railsback]

12. I haven't done my hero worshipping yet

Don't know if I can get around to that. Sorry.

[WilliamPitt]

13. I definitely read this thread.

[politicat]

14. My senator is on this (Udall) and we're getting Bennett turned around.

Udall got a check plus a letter thanking him for his position. Bennett got a letter encouraging him to stand with Udall, while reminding him that he represents a lot of people with strong concerns over individual privacy and security.

We're already EFF members. DH does some security programming in his spare time.

This isn't new for us, so we're already deep in the trenches.

[hunter]

15. I cracked their security...

... and now I'm hosting all my websites on their servers for free!

[uppityperson]

16. Hidden every post on DU that has Snowden in the title.

[sibelian]

17. Aw.

I thought some of mine were quite funny.

Not everyone did...

[woo me with science]

20. Yours were SUPERB. nt

[sibelian]

18. Excellent question.

Me? Primarily ranted about it here...

[xiamiam]

19. we need to discuss solutions to ending the privitization of war and surveillance

I already believe that the constitution has been violated but the problem still exists even if we undo this particular part of the problem. There is a massive for profit apparatus which has run amok and I have no clue how to stop that or reign it in. I keep asking and once I understand some of the solutions, I'm off and running. In the meantime, I've been here trying to learn as much as I can. I think the momentum for halting this particular executive overreach has begun..but there is a deeper problem here which I am more than willing to research and analyze but I need to be introduced to the folks ( their books or lectures) who have addressed the problem of private war and surveillance and how to reign it in. Of course, one could say, just re elect a whole new congress. I hope we do that but in the meantime, I'm hoping there are already laws in place which will thwart these activities. I don't know. Sam Farr is my representative and he almost always votes as I would vote. Feinstein should be gone and I have done my best to vote her out but she's got a lot of money behind her so communicating with her office is like pissing in the wind.

[Amonester]

21. Examined the possibilities of starting a Carrier Pigeon business.

Winters are problematic, though...

[sabrina 1]

22. What is your point with this OP?? Are you not familiar with DU at all? I have not only called my

Reps and Senators, a complete waste of time as we have learned over the years being they are far more interested in what their Corporate donors have to, but it's a ritual at this point.

I have contacted Verizon and told them to end the contract for the cell phone and the land line. We will go with Credo for now on the cell and try Vonage, assuming they are spying on the people also. We are in the wilderness here so we'll have to see what is available.

I have spoken to everyone I know, not by email or phone since we still have Verizon, and they in turn will be calling their Reps and Verizon customers so far are utterly incensed that we live in such a country where their own government is spying on them.

I will be looking for a class action suit against Verizon and the NSA to become a part of.

What have you done, other than lecture people who are KNOWN for their activism, and without whose activism Dems would never have been elected.

Your personal attack, not to mention the massively wrong assumptions made in your OP, your obvious disdain for DUers, prompts me to ask 'why are you here'? I would never hang around a place if I so despise the people there.

[brooklynite]

25. What have I done? Nothing.

...because I (and others -- Democrats and Republicans) aren't yet clear that this policy, while undesirable, is as transcendentally bad as some make it out. That said, on issues where I AM concerned, I use my ability and influence to talk directly to Members of Congress and their staff, and I ration my sizable financial contributions to candidates who support the policies I do.

My purpose in writing this OP is to point out the apparent disconnect between those sufficiently outraged to associate themselves with comments like: "We make the East German Stasi state look like the Boy Scouts" and the apparently few postings (unless prodded by a query like this one) about substantive action to address the issue.

[sabrina 1]

29. And what makes you think that others are not doing the same thing, or have 'sizable contributions'

to make to support those they believe will properly, in accordance with the Constitution they swear to protect and defend, represent them?

People are rightfully outraged and are expressing that outrage and will continue to do. Lawsuits are being filed and prepared thankfully, because you are correct, we don't the details of this massive surveillance operation mostly, it seems, being conducted by Private Multi Billion Dollar Contractors, populated by former Bush people.

Expressing outrage is natural when something as egregious as this, especially under an administration that most people here contributed sizable amounts of money and time to help elect.

Money btw, appears to be the major problem here. When Private Security Corps who now have our rights in their hands, need work, need billions of dollars worth of contracts, and they lie to Congress, as one of them did yesterday, correction 'former employee, now believe it or not, Director of Intelligence, we are supposed to trust that they will not violate our rights if that is how to accomplish the very goals they exist for, PROFIT.

I want all money removed from politics, ALL OF IT, sizable and not so sizable. We pay them a salary to do a job, that's all that should be required for us to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Bribing Congress is how we got here.

Oh and I also support OWS a movement based on the dangers we are now seeing unfolding, of a government that is so tragically influenced by MONEY.

[brooklynite]

30. ...because, while people here are happy to talk about OWS-type activities...

...I see very little being posted about actions that would actually result in policy change.

[sabrina 1]

31. OWS type activities are directly related to this issue. So now you're complaining when people DO

post their activities?

I fully support OWS and expect that organization to grow. I intend to donate sizable amounts of money to them for legal fees etc, along with the ACLU and any other Civil Liberties organization now standing up for our Constitutional Rights and working to get the money out of politics.

Do I have to repeat in every comment what I am doing? I found out a lot of information in these threads over the past few days, and now have even more informed questions to ask my Reps when I call them, not that I expect any answers, we live in a very secret society where people are afraid to say what they know. But letting them know, although I suppose they know all about us anyhow, how we view all of this has some purpose I suppose.

This is a 'discussion' board. It is where people discuss issues and learn from others. Why do you object to people discussing issues as important as this? We can't act until we know what we are acting on. DU has informed me on serious issues for years, making any action I take far more informed than just jumping to conclusions and running around calling people not having a clue what I'm talking about. That is the main purpose of this forum. If you don't like it, then why do you stay?

[brooklynite]

32. Bear in mind, I'm not having a discussion with "you"

I raise this to the community at large. And I don't object to discourse on policies or issues; I only object to people who demand change but frequently seem unwilling to effect the change themselves.

[Romulus Quirinus]

34. Guessed brooklynite would mention how much wealth and influence he/she has.

Was right, lol.

[brooklynite]

36. At least I put it to good use...

[Fire Walk With Me]

23. Attemped to spread information to agitate and activate people to those, and larger actions:

Tired of the Terror-Industrial Complex?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022962893

A few examples of why the terror-industrial complex is out of control.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022985577

They are attempting to normalize the step-by-step elimination of the Constitution.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022981711

For those wondering about NSA capacity to store metadata:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022995876

No warrants are required for domestic wiretapping. NSA doing warrantless wiretapping since 2002
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022994236

Educate. Agitate. Activate. RESIST.

[UTUSN]

24. We have entered millions of more strokes into the ethernet - is there a problem?!1 (joking) n/t

[gcomeau]

26. Freaked out about it without bothering to learn the details of what's involved mostly. -eom

[Luminous Animal]

27. Called Feinstein's office and said some words that will not matter.

Called Boxers office and said some words that will not matter.
Called Pelosi's office and said some words that will not matter.

Donated to EFF. Donated to the ACLU. Donated to the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

[Earth_First]

28. I watched a thread by one our elected officials get lambasted live...

Not one of DU's finer moments.

[zeeland]

33. Changed the message on my cell

offering a little reminder when I return their call it may be recorded
by my carrier compliments of the NSA.

[Romulus Quirinus]

35. "What are you going to do about it?"

I mean, you little people don't actually believe your opinion matters, do you?

HOW EMBARRASSING!