Computation, Caffeination, and Conflagration

I woke up today with the NSA on my mind. Our government has been spying on us. They've colluded with the purveyors of our telecommunications infrastructure. They've recorded private details about our phone usage, and analyzed our internet traffic. This story broke nearly five months ago, and as days go by more damning evidence emerges. But this morning, I was acutely embarrassed to realize I could summon only a vague notion of the NSA's abuse of our privacy.

How did this important issue fail to capture my undivided attention? Can it be that I've become so accustomed to betrayal after betrayal by this administration that I no longer examine each breach of law and ethics individually---but rather in aggregate, with a general sense of dread?

In 2001, I participated in a grassroots effort to free Dmitri Skylarov. This visiting Russian programmer had provoked Adobe Corporation by revealing how Adobe sought to mask poor DRM protections with law. Sklyarov was arrested and jailed when he presented his findings in the US.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Dmitri's unjust treatment were issues I understood. More importantly, I felt I could make a difference. I helped raise public awareness of the impact of the DMCA on our lives. To the best of my ability, I explained the politics and law of the situation to anyone who would listen: at rallies I helped organize, in flyers I wrote and distributed. Did my efforts truly make a difference? Who can say?

But for a time, I felt empowered to effect change. I found a cause meaningful to me, and I was proud to be an activist. September 11, 2001 happened shortly thereafter, and eclipsed public interest in matters of our electronic freedom.

This morning, I woke up and realized the time to be an activist had come again. I will not sacrifice freedom for security. I will not stand idly by while public awareness of the erosion of our privacy wanes.

Today, the illegal NSA spying is a sexy piece of news. Tomorrow, who knows what crisis or celebrity divorce will capture attention? Weblogs and the long tail effect can keep important issues from attention-death. That medium reaches a global, over-worked audience which is already largely of like-mind on electronic privacy. How can we reach more diverse audience?

I'm a Los Angeleno. In Los Angeles recently, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and their supporters took to the streets to demonstrate solidarity in a cause. Every one of this city's six million residents is affected by this administration's long war on our freedoms and privacy. But how many of us would actually take to the streets to show our dissatisfaction?

We have a collective attention-deficit in this country. If we don't act visibly, NSA spying will fade in with the "background radiation" of this administration's other heinous acts. How can we can act locally to make this issue stick?

I searched in vain for a Los Angeles mutual-support group for people who feel like they're living in a panopticon. But there's nothing.

What can we do as communities to effect change?