This weekend, we launched a tool that lets you tweet messages directly to your senators about privacy dangers of the cybersecurity bills. And last night we heard from staffers on the Hill that they are receiving tons of tweets. Unlike phone calls, which are tallied at the end of every day, tweets are seen the moment they’re tweeted. That means we have a direct, powerful method of telling senators to defend individual privacy as they move to consider the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 this week.
Visit Stop Cyber Spying to tweet at your senators. And if you run a website, please use the code at the bottom of this page to embed our Twitter tool on your site. Use the hashtag #DefendPrivacy to join thousands who have already spoken out for civil liberties.
We also heard from our contacts in Washington DC that there are tons of phone calls coming in. In one office, they had more phone calls about the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 yesterday than about anything else that day. That’s fantastic. We’re going to keep up our opposition from now until the final vote (which could be tomorrow), especially since new reports show that this bill is teetering on the edge of failure.
Unfortunately, we are hearing one bad piece of news from our contacts in DC: individuals manning the phones at Senate offices aren’t writing down the entire message from netroots callers. Instead of noting that callers are supporting pro-privacy amendments like the Franken-Paul Amendment, opposing anti-privacy amendments like those suggested by McCain and Hutchison, and opposing the bill as a whole, the individuals answering the phone are merely writing down that callers are opposing the bill. We need to make sure that our support for the Franken-Paul Amendment is made clear – this is the amendment that would remove the new affirmative authority for companies to engage in monitoring and countermeasures. We want to show our support for the Franken-Paul Amendment to ensure that, even if this bill fails, any future discussion of cybersecurity legislation begins from a place that has greater respect for our online privacy. So, please, call today and tell your senators that they must write down all three points, not just that you oppose the bill.
Click here to go to the ALA’s site and be connected to your Senator’s office. There’s a sample script for you to follow – your voice is being heard.
