Dear Friend,

Donald Trump has declared war on the American people.

On Monday night, he named himself the "president of law and order" and announced that he's "dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers" to disperse the protests. And then law enforcement tear gassed peaceful protesters and journalists standing across from the White House so he could do a photo op.¹

But it's not just tear gas and rubber bullets that are being used to suppress the protests. Police are using facial recognition to target protesters and stingrays to track cell phones, and the Trump administration is trying to get the power to collect web browser information on any American without a warrant—including protesters.²

Our First Amendment right to protest is the foundation of our democracy, and Demand Progress is fighting the government's effort to quash it.

Will you donate to Demand Progress and help protect our right to protest?

In his statement, Trump said he would use the military to "dominate the streets," and he encouraged state governors to do the same.³ Backed by his encouragement, police departments across the country are deploying military weapons and vehicles against their own constituents.⁴

And the targeting of protesters doesn't end when they leave the march to go home.

Police can use Clearview AI facial recognition technology and stingray cell phone locators to track dissidents.⁵ The government scours millions of social media posts about protests so they know who to keep an eye on.⁶ Just three years ago, Trump's Department of Justice demanded that a web host hand over the IP addresses of people who visited a dissident website—imagine the information they are scraping now.⁷

The surveillance state is a threat to our ability to protest freely. People need to be able to take to the streets without fear of government reprisal down the road.

Demand Progress has always fought for our right to privacy on the internet and beyond, and right now, we're working to:

• Stop the Trump administration from collecting our web browser history without a warrant. We shut down recent attempts to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act with that provision, and we're going to fight it again when it comes back up for a vote soon.
• Prevent government and police from using racist and faulty facial recognition technology to identify us in public and track our whereabouts.
• Put an end to Trump's emergency power grab, including his attorney general’s attempt to suspend habeas corpus during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Continue to fight warrantless surveillance at large, including the NSA's cell phone record dragnets and the widespread use of Clearview AI.

We're not going to let the Trump administration scare us into accepting an authoritarian government. Demand Progress will not stop taking action to defend our right to protest and our democracy itself.

Will you donate to Demand Progress and help protect our First Amendment right to protest?

For our democracy,

Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress

 

Sources:
1. CBS News, "Trump says he's 'president of law and order,' declares aggressive action on violent protests," June 2, 2020
2. Wired, "How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance," May 31, 2020
3. CBS News, "Trump says he's 'president of law and order,' declares aggressive action on violent protests," June 2, 2020
4. The New York Times, "Facing Protests Over Use of Force, Police Respond With More Force," June 2, 2020
5. Marketplace, "Police can track protesters even after the demonstrations end," June 2, 2020
6. Fast Company, "The long, ugly history of how police have tracked protesters," June 2, 2020
7. Forbes, "Feds Demand '1.3 Million IP Addresses' Of Visitors To Trump Protest Website," August 14, 2017

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