Hundreds marched through New York City on Independence Day to protest the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program.
Protesters march from Union Square through the
streets of New York City to demonstrate against mass domestic and
foreign surveillance by the National Security Agency.
(Credit:
Zack Whittaker/CNET)
NEW YORK -- Despite sweltering heat and barely tolerable humidity,
hundreds marched through New York City on Thursday to protest against
mass spying by the U.S. National Security Agency.
About 500 people met in Union Square to listen to a number of privacy
advocates and civil liberties groups discuss Fourth Amendment rights as
they stand today, in light of recent revelations about the U.S.
government's spying capability.
The government has been embroiled in an international diplomatic crisis over its
intelligence agencies' spying on foreign nationals.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on a number of
programs the U.S. employs to acquire masses of data on citizens around
the world, including those in the European Union.
According to the organizers, Independence Day is a poignant day to
protest in support of citizens' constitutional rights for protection
against unreasonable searches and seizures, which they claim have been
eroded under both the Bush and Obama administrations.
The U.K. government
was also embroiled in the NSA spying saga
after its Cheltenham-based listening station GCHQ was found to have
tapped undersea fiber optic cables, in an operation code-named Tempora.
And the European Parliament on Thursday voted to give the European Commission authority, should it wish to use it, to
suspend data-sharing agreements
between Europe and the U.S., including SWIFT banking data and passenger
name records (PNR) data. The U.S. government believes PNR data is vital
for preventing terrorists from landing in the U.S. Should the agreement
be put on ice, it could ground planes between the two continents.
People of all ages, from children to elderly folk, joined in the
march, which snaked through the midtown area of Manhattan. The police
presence was heavy -- more so to control the traffic than the crowds.
Many marchers were chanting slogans, but the atmosphere was relaxed and
friendly.
More than 100 protests are being held around the U.S. and Europe, as
far as San Francisco; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; London; and Munich,
according to the Restore the Fourth group.
The protesters are calling for an end to dragnet surveillance
conducted by U.S. intelligence agencies, an investigation into domestic
spying, and accountability on the part of public officials
for what the protestors call this "unconstitutional surveillance."
Also, in a move reminiscent of the anti-SOPA actions of 2012, dozens
of popular and high-profile Web sites, such as Mozilla, Reddit,
WordPress, and Imgur, joined in publicly protesting the scope and reach
of the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA),
which paved the way for NSA programs like PRISM
