Item — HN Reader

The letter focuses on trying to enact change in the US government with regard to internet surveillance, for everyone. It gives no indication that the efforts are intended only to improve the situation for American citizens.

> ... and the US law protects you against surveillance.

The recent revelations would suggest otherwise.

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> It gives no indication that the efforts are intended only to improve the situation for American citizens.

It gives no indication for foreigners either. Actually the letter is very fuzzy about the demands to the government(s). It should list action points and criteriae so governments/crowds know when the movement will be dissolved and don't get afraid of the limits.

Moreover the way we leverage politics in France is quite different from the US ;) So we may need to adapt the mode of action to local traditions.

> The recent revelations would suggest otherwise.

The recent revelations suggest the law was broken, so at least you had some rights. But we foreigners have no law about not being spied by the US intelligence.

At multiple points during the planning calls for this campaign, we significantly changed our plans, the language, and our tact to make sure that our call was viewed as being considerate of international concerns. This letter originally had language to that effect, calling out GCHQ as a major part of the problem, and that surveillance does not only effect US citizens. For evidence of this, take a look at the "And Everyone Else Too" in one of the Facebook share graphics, which I added early this morning in response to concerns that that particular graphic was too US-centric.

When the banner goes live, we'll likely do IP-geolocation and offer users who are like outside the US a link to necessaryandproportionate.org, a petition to be delivered to international lawmakers.

However, given that many of the organizations behind the movement are US-based, it definitely still leans US-focussed. In some ways that's for the best: many of our organizations don't know how to be effective in changing laws in other countries. For example, during our planning it was suggested that we set up dial-in numbers for each country. After some research, we found that in many countries legislator's offices view calls as a nuisance and do not respond positively to them.

So, what I'm trying to say is: we're definitely trying to address this. And if privacy groups in other countries join us in setting up similar actions (as with the German rallies in solidarity with StopWatchingUs), we'll happily send international visitors their way.

Awesome, thank you, I value your efforts. The whole world is with you and it gives credit to the American people when they care about those problems.

Then it ignores the reality of the law which is very specific regarding the difference between American citizens and the rest of the world. Not that the NSA cares either way.