Thread by @fightfortheftr

Congress is trying to ram through reauthorization of the #PatriotAct and #FISA surveillance. These mass spying programs haven’t saved any lives, but they HAVE been used to crack down on protesters and political dissent.

Here’s a short history …

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saveinternetprivacy.org

The first wiretaps were used to spy on a cop-turned-bootlegger in the 20’s. The public loved him for defying unjust Prohibition laws, and he never used violence against the public or the police. But the federal government wanted to make an example.

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newyorker.com/culture/cultur…

By the 30’s, the federal government was using wiretaps to spy on political activists, helping corporations prevent workers from unionizing in protest against unsafe working conditions and economic exploitation.

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smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-…

As America entered WWII, FDR gave @TheJusticeDept authority to spy on political opposition like isolationists, union leaders, and even Japanese-Americans being held in internment camps in absolute violation of their civil rights.

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thedailybeast.com/fdrs-sorry-dom…

“We want no Gestapo or secret police. The FBI is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex-life scandals and plain blackmail.” That’s what PRESIDENT TRUMAN said after learning the classified details of @TheJusticeDept’s spying programs.

5/

realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/…

Not even the President could stop @TheJusticeDept from compiling a list of 20,000 Americans with “potentially dangerous” political beliefs + building secret government prisons for these political dissidents in the 1950’s.

Red scare, anyone?

6/

thehill.com/opinion/civil-…

The government used the threat of communism to justify programs like COINTELPRO, spying on racial justice activists, the American Indian Movement, and anti-Vietnam War organizations throughout the 1960s.

But communism was a red herring.

7/

democracynow.org/topics/cointel…

The @FBI spied on NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER Martin Luther King, Jr. and threatened to murder him if he didn’t kill himself. They called him “A complete fraud.” “An abnormal, moral imbecile.” “An evil, abnormal beast.”

That’s unconscionable.

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vox.com/xpress/2014/11…

Puerto Rican independence activists were targeted by the @FBI during COINTELPRO. The FBI even wiretapped the family members of Pedro Albizu Campos, head of Puerto Rico's Nationalist Party, because he did not have his own phone.

9/

nytimes.com/2003/11/28/nyr…

Government surveillance was used by federal agencies and local police forces to track, harass, and even assassinate Black Panther Party members, like 21 year-old Fred Hampton who wanted to educate + empower other people.

10/

history.com/this-day-in-hi…

The Controlled Substances Act became law in 1971, officially kicking off the War on Drugs, which Nixon created to break up the antiwar and Black Power movements.

To this day, the DEA makes more wiretap requests than any other government agency.

11/

usatoday.com/story/news/201…

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 created a secretive court to authorize government spying on non-US citizens. Years later, the #PatriotAct used FISA to spy on US citizens, too. That's not what FISA was meant for.

Or was it?

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epic.org/privacy/survei…

In the 1980s, the government spied on the phone calls and personal letters of US military personnel in an attempt to identify LGBTQ service members and dishonorably discharge them from service.

13/

tcf.org/content/report…

Following the 9/11 attacks, the PATRIOT Act established the @nsa's massive, dragnet surveillance programs. These helped police departments throughout the US target Muslim and Middle Eastern communities.

Terrorism was the new excuse for spying.

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ispu.org/the-usa-patrio…

Intelligence officials lied to us about the scope + scale of these spying programs until @Snowden blew the whistle. But the government is STILL collecting massive amounts of data on millions of people in America today.

Why? Control, that's why.

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theguardian.com/us-news/the-ns…

In 2008, @FBI tried to bribe a college sophomore to spy on vegan potlucks for clues about imaginary liberal terrorist attacks.

Let's cast @robcorddry as "LITERALLY INSANE FBI AGENT" in the film adaptation. He really nailed it in Harold & Kumar.

16/

wired.com/2008/08/infilt…

Tech companies like @clearviewai + @amazon form “partnerships” w/ police forces, scraping our public data from the web to fuel racially-biased surveillance and #facialrecognition systems.

@JeffBezos has $150BB, but he can't buy a conscience.

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thenextweb.com/artificial-int…

Facebook + others monetize mass surveillance by #microtargeting advertising. In 2016, #CambridgeAnalytica weaponized surveillance, microtargeting people to tip the scales of the #Brexit vote and #Trump election.

#DeleteFacebook #BanMicrotargeting

18/

theatlantic.com/technology/arc…

Since @realDonaldTrump took office, the @FBI has repeatedly LIED about the threat of “terrorism” to justify spying on #BlackLivesMatter + other racial justice protesters. Why is the government so scared about people marching for basic human rights?

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theintercept.com/2019/04/08/bla…

@FBI has also been spying on journalists in an attempt to identify, track, and punish people who blow the whistle on the government’s illegal activities.

In other news, news.

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money.cnn.com/2016/07/01/med…

Today, @realDonaldTrump is labeling antifascist protesters as terrorists. The police are spying on the phone calls, texts, and emails of people protesting. And the @FBI is interrogating people about their political beliefs.

Same as it ever was.

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theintercept.com/2020/06/04/fbi…

We must STOP this from happening. Tell Congress to vote NO on reauthorizing the #PatriotAct.

#DefundPolice #DefundThePolice #M4BL #BlackLivesMatter
#NoEARNITAct #InvestigateAmazon #BanFacialRecognition
#BanMicrotargeting #DeleteFacebook

/THREAD

saveinternetprivacy.org