[IRP] ACTION: What’s Your Anti-Surveillance Success Story?

[Katitza Rodriguez]

Dear IRPers:

Government surveillance is a growing problem. From North America to 
South America, Europe to the Pacific Rim, proposals for mandatory data 
retention, lawful interception, legislative proposals to broaden law 
enforcement access to digital communications and other forms of 
government surveillance threaten to jeopardize individuals? rights to 
privacy and freedom of expression.

No one understands these challenges better than advocates who work 
tirelessly to protect and uphold individuals? fundamental rights, and 
that is why the International Privacy Team at the Electronic Frontier 
Foundation is asking you to share the story of how you?re combating this 
growing surveillance trend in your country.

Few tools are more powerful and effective for sharing knowledge and 
information than storytelling. That?s why we?ve begun a project of 
collecting success stories on fighting surveillance to compile and share 
with a global coalition of advocates who are countering problematic 
proposals in their own country and working to promote privacy-enhancing 
solutions. Our goal is to create a collection of case studies that can 
be packaged and distributed as a toolkit for digital freedom activists.

We want to help you share your story, get the word out, and inspire 
activists worldwide. To aid us in this effort, please take a few moments 
to respond to this brief questionnaire. Responses to each question 
should not be longer than 150 words. Please send your responses in an 
email to Rebecca Bowe, EFF?s International Privacy Coordinator 
(rbowe at eff.org) and include ?Anti-Surveillance Success Story? in the 
subject line. Supporting materials can be attached separately.

If you are super busy (as usual), please send us your Skype username and 
Rebecca will do a brief interview with you on this topic -- but be sure 
to include the same subject line for your message. We will share the 
final version of our Success Stories for Privacy package once it has 
been completed.

Here are the questions:

What was the government surveillance proposal you responded to? Please 
describe the nature of the surveillance proposal/ program/ bills, and 
include any relevant links.
How did you formulate a strategy in response? (ie. litigation, FOIA 
requests, blogging, video / new media campaign)
How did you garner media attention about your campaign? How did you 
influence the public messaging around your issue? What ?memes? did you 
use to counteract the government?s framing of the issue? (i.e. when 
governments justify the need for a program by highlighting child porn, 
terrorism, or the war on drugs).
How did your efforts affect the outcome of the proposal or surveillance 
practice?
What are some lessons, tips and/ or advice that you have gained from 
this experience and would like to share with global activists working on 
digital rights issues?

Your answers to these questions can help EFF to create a valuable 
resource for digital freedom activists throughout the world. Thank you 
for devoting time and attention to this project.

Sincerely,

-- 
Katitza Rodriguez
International Rights Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
katitza at eff.org
katitza at datos-personales.org (personal email)

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