Anti-Surveillance Movement Reaching Biggest Players on the Internet
By tech editor Ian Bush
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Internet denizens are taking a stand against widespread government surveillance.
On this, the first anniversary of NSA leaker Edward Snowden's first disclosures, a grassroots effort is leading to real change at some of the web's biggest companies.
It's called "Reset the Net."
"This is something really taking over the whole web," says Evan Greer with the digital advocacy group Fight For The Future. He says the movement is having an impact at Google, which is working on easier e-mail encryption, and at Wordpress.
"(Wordpress) powers 22 percent of the entire Internet," Greer notes. "Web sites everyone knows, like the New York Times, blogs, CNN -- they're all powered by Wordpress. They're going to be pushing SSL encryption-by-default on all the web sites they host."
Greer says the moves will be a roadblock for government spies, "actually preventing a huge amount of the bulk collection the NSA has been doing."
And he says "Reset The Net" supporters are taking matters in their own hands because Congress has done nothing to bolster privacy in the year since the Snowden revelations.
"It's an important day not only in the history of the Internet but also the history of the world and the history of our democracies," he said.
The group is offering apps and downloads as part of a "privacy pack" for computers and mobile devices. You can find it by clicking here.