CNET: Snowden Sounds Call to Action for ‘Reset the Net’ Web Protest
One year ago today, the first media report based on NSA whistleblower and GAP client Edward Snowden’s disclosures was published. Since his courageous actions, the world has discovered the extent of the agency’s expanding surveillance state and assault on privacy. To mark the anniversary, a coalition of privacy advocates have launched a campaign called Reset the Net. Today, technology companies are urged to encode privacy protections into their products, while citizens can download tools to make their communications more digitally secure and difficult for the NSA to capture.
Snowden has thrown his support behind the initiative, which GAP is promoting. Find out more information here.
Key Quote (Snowden): Today, we can begin the work of effectively shutting down the collection of our online communications, even if the US Congress fails to do the same. That’s why I’m asking you to join me on June 5th for Reset the Net, when people and companies all over the world will come together to implement the technological solutions that can put an end to the mass surveillance programs of any government. This is the beginning of a moment where we the people begin to protect our universal human rights with the laws of nature rather than the laws of nations.
We have the technology, and adopting encryption is the first effective step that everyone can take to end mass surveillance. That’s why I am excited for Reset the Net — it will mark the moment when we turn political expression into practical action, and protect ourselves on a large scale.
FireDogLake: New Organization Launched to Accept Submissions & Provide Support to Whistleblowers
A new organization has been launched to assist whistleblowers in making disclosures. ExposeFacts.org, which went live yesterday, was created by “whistleblowers, journalists, activists, lawyers and former government officials” to help truth-tellers come forward. Distinct from GAP, ExposeFacts plans to accept classified disclosures.
Several GAP clients and GAP National Security & Human Rights Director Jesselyn Radack serve on the organization’s advisory board.
Key Quote: The Government Accountability Project’s National Security and Human Rights Division Director, Jesselyn Radack, called it significant that the organization would accept classified information. “I applaud their bravery,” to stand up in the face of governmental threats, she said.
She found this to be particularly bold in light of the recent development where the Supreme Court refused to review an appeal by New York Times reporter James Risen, who has been fighting to keep the Obama administration from forcing him to reveal his confidential sources.
President of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Thomas Ross decided not to directly respond to a recent letter from GAP President Louis Clark regarding the school’s treatment and smearing of whistleblower Mary Willingham. Instead, a UNC attorney sent a reply to Clark that failed to answer key questions.
Key Quote: UNC system President Tom Ross is showing little interest in jumping into the research dispute between whistleblower Mary Willingham and UNC-Chapel Hill that has produced claims of retaliation.
At an editorial board meeting of The News & Observer on Tuesday, Ross said the real issue wasn’t whose interpretation of the data about athletes’ reading ability was correct, but whether UNC-CH’s athletic department was successfully blending academics with athletics.
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The Government Accountability Project, a national nonprofit law firm that supports whistleblowers, had written to Ross last month asking him to investigate the way UNC-CH has treated Willingham after she helped expose dozens of lecture-style classes in the African studies department that never met. Willingham was moved to a different office after going public, and UNC officials disparaged her research into the literacy abilities of a subset of athletes tested over an eight-year period. She resigned at the close of the academic year.
Related Article: Durham Herald Sun
The Guardian: Edward Snowden NSA Whistleblowing Story to be Filmed by Oliver Stone
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone is set to film a new motion picture about Snowden and his disclosures. Stone has been a public supporter of protecting whistleblowers for some time. The film is an adaptation of The Snowden Files, a book written by a journalist at The Guardian.
Dylan Blaylock is Communications Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.