A rally will be held in Iowa City on Independence Day to demand the U.S. government to adhere to the “constitutionally dictated limits” of the Fourth Amendment and show support for Edward Snowden, the source of the recent National Security Agency leak.
The event, organized by Restore the Fourth, a nonpartisan group of citizens who seek to strengthen the Fourth Amendment in the era of digital surveillance, is a nationwide movement that began after Snowden, a former NSA contractor and CIA technician, leaked to the UK-based Guardian and the Washington Post classified information regarding the collection of U.S. citizens’ phone records and online data by the NSA.
According to the leaked data, nine major companies have been involved with opening their servers to government surveillance —Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, PalTalk, Youtube, Skype, AOL, and Apple.Â
Despite the attempt by the government to ensure the necessity of phone and Internet surveillance, the movement has been growing across the United States. Now, protesters will gather in more than 100 cities across the nation to fight against the “NSA surveillance” and ensure the privacy of people’s phone and Internet activity.
The demands according to a Tuesday press release include “enacting reform of the USA Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act … creating a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying; holding accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance; and guaranteeing due process for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.”
The rally, to be held on the Pedestrian Mall from noon to 2 p.m. will be the first Restore the Fourth rally in the city since the information surfaced at the beginning of June.