Yesterday PEN American Center, 90 years old organization with a goal to defend free expression in literature, released a worrisome report Chilling Effects: NSA Surveillance Drives U.S. Writers to Self-Censor. According to the report of over 520 American writers participated in the survey 1 in 6 avoided writing or speaking on the topic they thought would subject them to surveillance and another 1 in 6 has seriously considered doing so. The numbers even higher when it comes to phone, e-mail and social networking:

 28% have curtailed or avoided social media activities, and another 12% have seriously considered doing so.
  24% have deliberately avoided certain topics in phone or email conversations, and another 9% have seriously considered it.

As LA Times observed in the article the writers are often trouble makers and there is a history of writers using pseudonyms or anonymously publishing their books with unpopular or revolutionary ideas to conceal their identity and protect themselves. However, current situation and revelations about wide scope of the Government agencies surveillance over the people around the world and in US certainly elevates the level of censorship to a completely new level. In fact, one of the leading security researcher, Bruce Schneier, who is now helping the Guardian newspaper review Snowden documents and this year is also a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, in interview to a correspondent of  MIT Technology Review expressed his opinion that NSA Spying Is Making Us Less Safe.
There are many different ways how the broad spying is affecting the security and freedom of the society --by impeding free exchange of ideas and information, stifling progressive movements and personal freedoms, unnecessary wasting a lot of resources and creating state of paranoia among people, etc. However, most important implication is that it allows to few people manipulate large contingents of society solely for their own benefits.
That is why we, citizens and voters of this country, need to stop this expansion of illegal spying going out of control by putting pressure on politicians to change the law, increase the transparency and set the boundaries for necessary surveillance, and establish oversight by the courts and not just special secret courts.

Please, help us to spread the word and consider signing our Petition addressed to the Congress and President asking them instead of legalizing blanked warrantless wiretapping of phones and e-mails to reform FISA law and prevent abuses of spying on everyone without reasonable and probable cause.