Under the banner of a grassroots nonpartisan organization called Restore the Fourth, thousands will be gathering on the 4th of July in dozens of cities across the United States to demand an end to unconstitutional governmental surveillance programs that violate the 4th Amendment rights of Americans.

In New York City, 4th Amendment rights issues go well beyond the recently revealed unconstitutional NSA spying programs. In addition to the national goal of seeking an end to these programs, we demand New York City stop all search and surveillance policies that target groups based on their race, religion, or political views. We demand an end to "Stop and Frisk," which targets people of color across the city, and an end to the discriminatory surveillance of Muslim Americans by the NYPD.

The rally on the 4th of July will begin at noon around Union Square South. We will march to Federal Hall. Despite the fact a permit will not be filed for this march, it is the intention of Restore the Fourth that the march be nonviolent and lawful. Since we expect to have attendees from all backgrounds and age groups, we want this event be safe for everyone involved without the risk of police violence and arrest.

We request that you share with your friends our Restore the Fourth NYC Facebook page and Rally/Event page for the march.

Meanwhile, as reported by Rainey Reitman of Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Internet freedom organization's campaign to end NSA warrantless surveillance recently surged past 500,000 signers:

Over five hundred thousand people have signed onto the Stop Watching Us campaign, a nonpartisan, grassroots campaign opposing the dragnet surveillance programs of the National Security Agency (NSA). Galvanized by newly surfaced evidence confirming the NSA’s surveillance of the phone records and Internet activity of individuals in the United States and abroad, the Stop Watching Us coalition is seeking public accountability and tangible reform to rein in unconstitutional surveillance.

Since launching just over two weeks ago, the campaign has already garnered the support of Internet companies like Namecheap, reddit, and Mozilla as well as dozens of advocacy organizations from across the political spectrum.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, also added his support to the campaign. He was joined by internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei. Other prominent supporters include Icelandic Parliamentarian Birgitta Jónsdóttir, author Cory Doctorow, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, and actor John Cusack.

"This campaign has been lightening-fast. Hundreds of thousands of people have now called on Congress to provide a full accounting of the National Security Agency’s powerful and frankly unsettling spying practices," said EFF Staff Attorney Mark Rumold, "Now all eyes are turned on Congress to see if they’ll do the right thing and be responsive to the will of the people."

Every time a person signs onto the stopwatching.us site, emails opposing dragnet surveillance are sent to that individual’s elected officials or to the president. These emails call for a full investigation and public accounting of the National Security Agency’s spying practices, reform to the law to prevent such surveillance, and holding public officials accountable for the role they played.

In addition to signing onto Stop Watching Us, individuals who oppose NSA spying can call their members of Congress using the dedicated call line 1-STOP-323-NSA (1-786-732-3672). You can also visit stopwatching.us to add your name to the campaign.

This Fourth of July, EFF will be demonstrating our commitment to your Constitutional right of privacy from government surveillance by displaying the text of the Fourth Amendment on our website. This demonstration is a visual symbol of our opposition to the illegal and unconstitutional surveillance by the National Security Agency, which the government now admits has been collecting data on millions of ordinary Americans not suspected of any crime. We, along with the Internet Defense League and many other organizations, are showing online solidarity with the Restore the Fourth movement, a nonpartisan, grassroots movement that is planning protests against NSA spying on July 4th in cities across the United States.