Google Endorses “The Day We Fight Back.” Calling for Government Surveillance Reform

A blog post went up this morning through the Google Public Policy page stating that they have joined “The Day We Fight Back” and are saying “It’s Time to Reform Government Surveillance Laws”. Google is joining the ranks of internet centric organization such as Reddit, Tumblr, Mozilla, EFF, Fight for the Future, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Free Press and thousands more. 

David Segal, the executive director of Demand Progress that has helped to organize “The Day We Fight Back” issued the following statement about Google joining the ranks.

“We are thrilled that Google is joining activists around the world — more than 20,000 calls have been placed to Congress already this morning — in standing up against the NSA’s intrusion into our privacy.  Winning this fight is going to require a broad coalition of individuals, organizations, and businesses, one that is coalescing around today’s activism and will persist until we win the fight against mass suspicion-less surveillance.”

Google’s VP of Public Policy, Susan Molinari, has put up an article on the Google Public Policy page going into detail about Google’s policy and action. Google recognizes that there is a real threat out there for U.S. and plenty of other countries, but they believe that the Governments need to operate “under a legal framework that is rule-bound, narrowly tailored, transparent, and subject to oversight.”

Back in December Google unveiled a set of reform principles that addressed many of the recent concerns that have arisen about the NSA and Government surveillance.

1. Limit Governments Authority to Collect Users’ Information
2. Oversight and Accountability
3. Transparency About Government Demands
4. Respecting the Free Flow of Information
5. Avoid Conflicts Among Governments

We can’t get anywhere without taking the first steps to change things. In an open letter to Washington, signed by AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo, one paragraph reads:

For our part, we are focused on keeping users’ data secure — deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorized surveillance on our networks and by pushing back on government requests to ensure that they are legal and reasonable in scope.

The scope doesn’t stop there though, there is also a push to get Congress to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) asking that the Government obtains a warrant before they can contact online companies for disclosure of and content of users communications. More than 100 online companies, including Google, Dropbox, Amazon, Adobe, Apple, AT&T and T-Mobile to name a few, along with over 100,000 signatures from supporting Americans. You can take a look at that list at Digital Due Process.

You can stick your name on the list through Google Take Action page.

Sources: Google Public Policy, Google Take Action, Reform Government Surveillance, Digital Due Process, Whitehouse.gov