'The Day We Fight Back' calls for protests against NSA spying

(Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

Those of you angered over reports of NSA spying are being urged to add your voices to those of a group of 5,300 companies and Web sites staging a worldwide protest.
Dubbing February 11 "The Day We Fight Back," organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union, Free Press, Mozilla, Reddit, and Tumblr want Internet users to call or e-mail their legislators to pressure them to end the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program. The groups also are asking Web site owners to set up banners on their pages to urge visitors to join the cause.
Susan Molinari, Google's vice president of public policy, used the occasion to argue in a blog post that the US government should make major changes to how it responds to electronic privacy concerns. She said Congress ought to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to require the government to get a warrant before compelling tech firms to disclose the content of user communications; and pass the USA Freedom Act, a proposed law that would codify proposed surveillance reform principles.
A series of protests also are planned today in the United States and other countries. And the groups involved have suggested setting up local events as another way for people to participate.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also is drawing attention to its 13 Principles, a document that it says outlines how surveillance can be conducted without impinging on human rights. The overall goal behind "The Day We Fight Back" is to raise awareness and put more pressure on Washington to limit the NSA's methods, which have been criticized by Internet users, privacy groups, and several of those serving in Congress.
"Since the first revelations last summer, hundreds of thousands of Internet users have come together online and offline to protest the NSA's unconstitutional surveillance programs," Josh Levy, Internet campaign director at Free Press, said in a statement. "These programs attack our basic rights to connect and communicate in private, and strike at the foundations of democracy itself. Only a broad movement of activists, organizations, and companies can convince Washington to restore these rights."

NSF $289,000 grant to help undergraduate cyber security research

The National Science Foundation has awarded a grant of more than $289,000 to faculty of UALR’s Department of Computer Science that could improve cyber security for people using mobile technology and social networking sites.

Dr. Mengjun Xie

Dr. Mengjun Xie, UALR computer science assistant professor, was joined by Dr. Kenji Yoshigoe, computer science department chair and associate professor, in submitting the grant.
The project, “REU Site: CyberSAFE@UALR: Cyber Security and Forensics Research at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock,” will enhance undergraduate research in cyber security protection for the public.
As a designated REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) Site, UALR offers its students research opportunities on a specific project for which they are paired to work closely with computer science faculty.
The CyberSAFE project seeks to integrate fundamental security and forensics research with the latest technology advances in mobile computing, cloud computing, and social networks, according to Dr. Xie.
“The grant will advance our understanding of cyber attacks by allowing us to explore novel and practical techniques and methods of collecting and analyzing digital evidence,” said Xie.
Xie said researchers will also investigate more secure and user friendly approaches to protecting people in using their smartphones, visiting their social networks, and accessing their apps and data in computing clouds.
The NSF award was effective Feb. 1 and expires Jan. 31, 2017.