From one of the activist groups I get e-mails from, I have to rethink my amazon membership now and I suggest all of you to do the same:
"We put a Halloween color on the huge billboard that's going up next to Amazon headquarters in Seattle -- but the "spooks" that just climbed onto Amazon's cloud are all too real. We're not talking Casper the Friendly Ghost here. The CIA has given a $600 million contract to Amazon for cloud services.
With your help, this 48-foot-wide billboard will be the start of a big campaign to inform the public and insist on accountability from the world's largest online retailer. We need to get to $9,500 to pay for this huge billboard next to the Amazon headquarters for a full month. And we need to reach the $20,000 goal so this campaign can move into high gear with strong media outreach -- demanding full disclosure about the terms of the deal between the CIA and Amazon Web Services.
Amazon now has the means, motive and opportunity to provide its vast trove of customer information to the Central Intelligence Agency. "We look forward to a successful relationship with the CIA," Amazon says. Well, we look forward to pushing back. And you can lend a hand right now. We're putting the enormous billboard where thousands of Amazon employees will see it. And we want to follow up with a big media push so millions of people will learn about what's at stake. Our billboard will launch an international media campaign, led by RootsAction and our ExposeFacts partner. We insist on raising "the $600 million question: What's the CIA doing on Amazon’s cloud?"
Amazon's "cloud computing" for the CIA should concern every Amazon customer -- and anyone else who cares about privacy and civil liberties. The Amazon-CIA deal has cranked up the basis for massive abuse. Amazon’s business model depends on accumulating and analyzing huge quantities of personal data. Meanwhile, the CIA depends on gathering and analyzing data to keep tabs on the world and serve U.S. military interventions overseas. During the last dozen years, the CIA has conducted ongoing drone strikes and covert lethal missions in many countries.
Meanwhile, U.S. agencies like the CIA and NSA have flattened many previous obstacles to Big Brother behavior. We must fight back! After donating to this campaign, please forward this message to your friends.
Thank you!--- The RootsAction team
Background:
> Bloomberg News: Amazon Wins Ruling for $600 Million CIA Cloud Contract
> Washington Post: What Jeff Bezos Has to Say About Amazon's CIA Contract
> InformationWeek: Amazon Again Beats IBM for CIA Cloud Contract"