Your out-of-office reply can help push for an Edward Snowden pardon
Amnesty International wants you to do something for Edward Snowden before you detach from work for the holidays.
The group recently launched a campaign designed to get employees, wherever they may be, to "donate" their out of office messages to the campaign to pardon Snowden.
Snowden, an NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower, became famous in 2013 after he leaked a trove of information about United States government surveillance to various media outlets that then went on to publish stories that dominated headlines for months.
Amnesty International, the ACLU and Human Rights Watch all launched a campaign in September aimed at getting Barack Obama to pardon Snowden before the president's term is up in January, though Obama has indicated he's not into the idea.
Amnesty International, however, is making a last push before 2017. The organization is asking people to add the following text to their out-of-office reply to highlight the issue to anyone who may contact them during the break:
Be advised that this Out of office reply may be read by the NSA and the FBI. YOUR NAME HERE is currently on holiday and will be back at the office DATE HERE. For urgent matters please contact CONTACT INFO HERE.
You are being watched and recorded. You don’t have to have done anything wrong. You simply have to fall under suspicion from somebody. They can go back in time and scrutinize every decision you ever made and every friend you ever discussed something with and attack you on that basis. /Edward Snowden Edward Snowden is facing charges in the United States for revealing mass scale global surveillance of private communication including e-mails. Amnesty International strongly urges President Obama to grant Edward Snowden a Presidential pardon before leaving office. Sign the petition, and spread the word by letting Edward Snowden deliver your voicemail and holiday Out of Office reply. Visit snowdenoutofoffice.com to learn more.This Out of Office reply was donated to Amnesty International. Please copy and use it.
You can also "donate" a voicemail to the cause by downloading it off Amnesty International's site.
The group also has ready-made tweets, Facebook posts and email footers for people to copy and paste.
Topics Barack Obama
Colin is Mashable's US & World Reporter. He previously interned at Foreign Policy magazine and The American Prospect. Colin is a graduate from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. When he's not at Mashable, you can most likely find him eating or playing some kind of sport.
