Social network activism for civil liberties has made great progress so far. Some simple steps from organizations and bloggers can take things to the next level.

This Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to vote on a couple of amendments by Russ Feingold proposing significant reforms to the PATRIOT Act and the FISA wiretapping statutes. These votes are the best chance yet to influence the PATRIOT Act reauthorization in the Senate. We’re kicking off a last-minute Twitter- and Faceboo- based activism campaign to pressure key politicians and try to get some media coverage on the issue. Please get involved!

• On Twitter, thank Arlen Specter for his vote last week — and come back Tuesday night and make another tweet about the Patriot Act
• On Facebook, sign up for Tuesday’s Action to fix the Patriot Act and invite your friends
• Help get the word out by sharing this link with your friends (via Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, or carrier pigeon).

Notes, belatedly, from a “birds of a feather” session at Computers, Freedom, and Privacy 2009.

Identified strategies include building a broad, diverse coalition; focusing on cost, dignity, and human rights issues as well as privacy and constitution; use anti-corporate activism against the companies supplying equipment and profiting from surveillance; involve the technical community and domain experts; and more.

Senator Feingold’s giving the Administration “a few more weeks” to come up with a bill to roll back the FISA amendments, and introduce his own bill if they don’t. Please help get the word out — and let’s start getting ready for activism once it happens.

Get FISA right is delighted to announce that our new video/cable TV ad, Congratulations, President Obama. Please get FISA right, premiers January 20, Inauguration Day, in Washington DC on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, and the Comedy Channel.

If you’d like to congratulate President Obama, please leave a message in a comment on the Get FISA Right blog — or on Facebook or on YouTube, if you prefer. If you want, you can also share your views with him and the new administration about FISA, the PATRIOT Act, and civil liberties.

Man, you’d think they’d give us the weekend off so we could focus on service … but noooooo, the voting in change.gov’s Citizen’s Briefing Book closes Sunday. Our idea is Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties, submitted by John Joseph Bachir. Please vote. And digg it!

With a late rush, Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties squeaked into the #5 position in the change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition with 12285 votes!

Congratulations, all, and thanks once again!

With less than 36 hours to go in change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition, Get FISA Right has voted overwhelmingly (30-2) to endorse Bob Fertik’s Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration.

Voting in change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition closes Thursday at 2 p.m. Pacific time. Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties has just fallen to #8, and a couple of the ideas close behind us like Pass the DREAM Act – Support Higher Education for All Students have been climbing rapidly.

Now would be a very good time to start increasing our momentum.

The second round of voting in change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition kicked off today. Please vote for Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties — and help promote it!