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A quick update on our movement!

The EFF wrote up a big thank you for Misha Collins and myself regarding our donations from our respective campaigns. You can check it out at https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/06/fight-internet

Do not be fooled by Marsha Blackburn’s attempt to pass legislation on protecting your browser history.

“Rep. Marsha Blackburn introduced a bill that would apply privacy rules to internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast and web companies such as Google and Facebook. The bill would require the companies to get their users' permission before sharing their sensitive information, including web-browsing history, with advertisers.”

She has always been anti-regulatory and she knows that this bill will fail as our current administration is anti-regulatory. This is just an attempt to cover herself and she can use this during re-elections by saying “I tried to pass a bill. I care about your privacy.”

If she cared at all about your privacy, she would have opposed the repeal of the FCC rules. She would have voiced her opposition then and fought for you then.

Do not be fooled, this is just political theater.

Be sure you tweet (@MarshaBlackburn ) and let her know how you feel. Or you can contact her here: https://blackburn.house.gov/contact/

On July 12, 2017 the Internet will join forces to protect Net Neutrality in a “Day of Action”. This is more important that privacy rights. Why? Rights can be restored. Your civil liberties can be expanded through law.

Once big business has their hands-on Net Neutrality, it is over. The net will never be the same.

Be sure to contact your representative: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ or https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state


The FCC calls it “Restoring Internet Freedom”. The Internet has ALWAYS been open and free. Calling this filing “Restoring Internet Freedom” is just more political theater. Like the PATRIOT ACT or Citizens United. These names are deceptive and it fools a lot of people. YOU need to be diligent in educating your friends and family about how important Net Neutrality is.

Mark your calendars and on July 12, be sure you use John Olivers’s “Last Week Tonight” link http://www.gofccyourself.com to voice your opinion!

Our movement has received a lot of national attention and has brought to the spotlight the very idea behind our rights to digital privacy. It has ignited a conversation that was very badly needed. More than 14,000 of you donated nearly a quarter of a million to show your support and voice your opinion! That is simply amazing. Someone needed to standup and start doing something. I am humbled and honored you took that chance with me --- someone you didn’t know, but shares your same ideals. Your kind emails and comments have made this continued and unending fight for our rights and privacy worthwhile. I am so proud that we have joined together.

However, this fight is far from being over. I am still angry and even more driven now that I know I am not alone – we are not alone. We need to keep our movement going and continue to spread the word. The EFF will receive the donations raised in this campaign. They are on a constant battle for our digital rights and the funds raised here will help them to stay fighting.

President Kennedy once warned "…there is a very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment." That reality is one in which we live today.

Ultimately, we need an expansion of the 4th Amendment that explicitly includes both the right to our digital privacy and complete ownership over our personal devices. No American should be forced to unlock their cell phone or give up their social media passwords. Additionally, no American’s online habits should be bought and sold without their expressed permission—or without compensation. If your ISP makes money off selling your data, at the very least you deserve a cut. After all, you’re doing the work—why not get paid for it?

People will argue to switch ISPs if you don’t like what they are doing. For most Americans that simply isn’t possible. There may be no other provider in your area, thanks to backroom deals elicited to avoid encroaching on each other's territories. Or maybe you live in an apartment complex with an ISP monopoly, where one ISP is the sole provider of services to tenants—a very common practice. Sometimes, ISP providers are even bundled into your rent, forcing you to use their service. Where are the regulations that protect you? The laws that promote competition so you can get the best deal? You cannot simply shut off your service, either. You need it. It is a utility. It’s a part of your modern-day life. It’s how you communicate.

Now there is a war on for Net Neutrality. The very idea that the Internet should be a level playing field for all people. In essence your ISP can slow traffic to a website that is competing or hasn’t paid for fast access. If Net Neutrally fails, do not be surprised in a few years if the Internet has been broken up into packages like the cable industry. A future where you must pay an extra $10 a month for access to video sites like YouTube, Netflix and Hulu. While access to AT&T’s DIRECTV remains free, fast and most importantly doesn’t count against your data plan. That future isn’t rapidly approaching; it is here[2]. Why would you go to Netflix or Hulu if DIRECTV is free?

This must stop. Where do we draw the line? When are we going to say, “We have had enough”?

At times, our outrage and combined voices on this topic fall on deaf ears. It’s time the American people had someone who fought for them. Someone who knows what it feels like to be on the losing end; to always be on the defensive and always get the short end of the stick—and often be left with the bill, too. It is time to do something.

Well, I have had enough. I am tired of being cast aside simply because our rights are an inconvenience for the major telecoms and corporations. I am tired of being sold out by our elected officials.

Our government can spend $700 billion to bail out Wall Street[3], but you and I must pay for it, all the while being stuck with student loans.

We can spend $2.4 trillion on a never-ending war[4], but we can’t afford to give each American basic health coverage.

We spent $9.26 billion rescuing the automotive industry[5]—money the people will never see again.

Where does this money come from? You and me. The middle class and the poor.

All the while, large companies lobby our leadership to relax taxes for them, repeal regulations that are “burdensome” on their business model, and slowly more and more of our civil liberties are chipped away.

Where do we as a people draw the line? Why are we OK with this? Where are our tax cuts? Where are our bailouts? Where is our help? We should be banging down Congress’s door demanding change.

All this to say, I am considering running for president.

Your support thus far has shown me there is a need—a want—for someone to lead who shares the beliefs of the people. You don’t need another billionaire or politician with a self-serving agenda that focuses on the needs of the corporate donors who keep them in office.

You need someone who knows what it is like to be an average citizen, living paycheck-to-paycheck. Someone who will fight for you because he knows exactly what you are going through because he experiences it. Someone who is connected to the daily lives of hard-working Americans who simply want a government that works for them and in their favor. We need to do something before it is too late, before our rights have been manipulated and removed to the point where we don’t recognize them—to the point where there’s no turning back, no recourse.

We are constantly promised change. We never get it—just more of the same. It’s time we had someone in office who understands what the average American goes through. We are angry. We want relief. We want help. We want someone to fight for us and give us a voice. But who will do this?

I will.

You took a chance and believed in me and as I promised, I’m going to continue fighting for you.

You wanted your voice to be heard. I heard it.

It’s time to alter the system from the inside to effect real change. It is time we took our government back to its roots and have a president who is of the people, for the people, and most importantly—with the people.

We are stronger united.

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References

[1] https://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/JFK-Speeches/American-Newspaper-Publishers-Association_19610427.aspx

[2] https://www.att.com/bundles/data-free-tv.html

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Economic_Stabilization_Act_of_2008

[4] http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314

[5] https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/12/30/auto-bailout-tarp-gm-chrysler/21061251/

Quick update. Nothing to report from my efforts so far. I have a bigger announcement at the beginning of the week regarding the status of our efforts, the EFF and the future of our movement.