The Internet's Anti-NSA Revolt Starts Feb 11

Circle Feb 11 on your calendar. You're going to notice something a little different when browsing the Internet that day. Thousands of civil-liberty and online-freedom groups and websites will take to the digital streets to wage a coordinated war against the National Security Agency's spying powers, a battle strike reminiscent of a virtual protest that two years ago killed an online piracy bill.

Billing the protest as "The Day We Fight Back," organizers are promising banners will be prominently displayed on websites across the Internet urging users to engage in viral activity expressing their opposition to the NSA. Additionally, those banners will ask readers to flood the telephone lines and email in-boxes of congressional offices to voice their support of the Freedom Act, a bill in Congress that aims to restrict the government's surveillance authority. The roster of participating groups, which organizers say now tops 4,000, includes the American Civil Liberties Union, reddit, Tumblr, Mozilla, DailyKos, and Amnesty International. "The ultimate goal is to provide more esteem for the USA Freedom Act and other measures and to ensure that [Sen Dianne] Feinstein (D-CA)'s so-called FISA Improvements Act never sees the light of day," said David Segal, executive director of Demand Progress, a leftist group forged in the crucible of an earlier wave of Internet activism that famously killed the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act in 2012.