With recent speak of slacktivism on the forum, I wonder if Privacy Guides can make a guide/article on ways to fight for privacy (not just ways to defend our own). We can link that guide/article as a shorthand for whenever someone on the forum (or anyone we know of IRL) asks, “What else can I do?” or something similar.
Some ideas to bounce off of:
Maybe we can link to other larger privacy activist organizations (like the EFF, for example)?
Teach people how to politically organize depending on their resources, abilities, situations.
For example, we can give uni students tips on how to organize rallies and protests with other students. We can show people how to properly contact their representatives depending on their country. Etc.
We can list or link proposed laws that are hostile to privacy that we should fight against.
Bad governments would likely not target PG for just promoting privacy and security but activism would feel like it would put us in a different and riskier category, one that would actually cause us to be actively targeted by state actors instead of passively be put under the usual surveillance.
But then this seems important enough that I feel like this should be spun into its own website and/or forum, probably with more user safeguards to protect its users from each other and to harden the site from outsiders trying to find more info about its users.
Eventually, organization of protest and rallies would come up as topics and that may cause the forum owners to unforeseen legal trouble from foreign governments. Organization should probably happen in a more decentralized manner away from the forum so as not to stress the site maintainers with geopolitical and legal issues.
I’ve never really thought about it that way. Activism is beyond my threat model since I have no experience with it and have never done it. I wonder if this is an accurate depiction of activist-oriented forums? What are other people’s opinions on this?
Also, to clarify: I do not mean for Privacy Guides to lead or direct political rallies or what have you, only that they provide resources and knowledge on how to do so appropriately in response to threads such as these:
I’m on board with that. An easy-to-read, FAQ-style page that people can refer to would be helpful. Perhaps this page could outline the main arguments and counterarguments on a subject, along with clear steps on what you can do to take action. It could include links to relevant campaign sites or action centers operated by trusted advocacy groups (e.g. the EFF). Some groups already have pretty straightforward action centers that explain how you can voice your opposition, yet many people who oppose these issues don’t know how to channel their concerns properly.
The EFF has an allies directory that lists other local, privacy-friendly organizations that could be helpful.
It could also be a good idea to mention Fight for the Future it’s a 501(c)(4) organization, so it can more directly involved in politics, such as endorsing candidates.
Or privacyGuides could have general activism section (with multiple pages) and link to key resources from various organizations like that guide from edri.
I see the entire project of privacyguides as activism so this makes perfect sense to me.
Whatever your motivations are for upholding privacy, the whole point of this space is to help people take active steps to resist encroachment and that makes it a form of activism.