Massive online protest of NSA spying activities planned

Reddit, Mozilla and other websites say they'll launch an online protest July 4 against U.S. surveillance of telephone records and Internet traffic. The participating sites will display anti-National Security Agency spying messages on their home pages and will direct visitors to the site CallForFreedom.org, The Hill reported Tuesday. At CallForFreedom.org, donations can be made to help fund TV ads against the intelligence programs and press for action from U.S. lawmakers. The protest is being organized by the Internet Defense League, a coalition of online activists and websites that came together during the protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act in January 2012. "The NSA programs that have been exposed are blatantly unconstitutional, and have a detrimental effect on free speech and freedom of press worldwide," Tiffiniy Cheng, a spokeswoman for the Internet Defense League, said in a statement. The group said it estimates thousands of websites will take part in the online protests. "This is going to be our biggest protest since SOPA, and it should be no surprise. "You can't disregard people's privacy, invade their personal lives on a daily basis, and not expect them to fight back."