Demand Progress is an

internet activist Internet activism is the use of electronic communication technologies such as social media, e-mail, and podcasts for various forms of activism to enable faster and more effective communication by citizen movements, the delivery of particular infor ...

-related entity encompassing a

501(c)4 A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exempt from some federal income taxes. ...

arm sponsored by the Sixteen Thirty Fund and a

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 5 ...

arm sponsored by the New Venture Fund. It specializes in online-intensive and other grassroots activism to support Internet freedom, civil liberties, transparency, and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, and in opposition to censorship and corporate control of government. The organization was founded through a petition in opposition to the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, sparking the movement that eventually defeated COICA's successor bills, the

Stop Online Piracy Act The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a controversial proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on O ...

and the PROTECT IP Act, two highly controversial pieces of United States legislation. The organization has played key roles in forwarding the passage of

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

rules, blocking expansion of the

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA) is a United States cybersecurity bill that was enacted in 1986 as an amendment to existing computer fraud law (), which had been included in the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984. The law pro ...

, under which co-founder Aaron Swartz was indicted, and other key legislative efforts. Estimated membership numbers in early 2015 weigh in at over two million.

Campaigns

Demand Progress has been involved in grassroots and direct lobbying campaigns in relation to the following efforts, among others:

Support

Whistleblowing A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

and whistleblowers such as that of Edward Snowden; also opposing the SEC's motions, which they themselves had admitted would stifle attempts at reporting wrongdoing. *Reform of the

, via Aaron's Law and other means. *Support for Net Neutrality regulations, including co-leading the successful

Internet Slowdown Day Internet Slowdown Day, part of the "Battle for the Net" initiative, was a series of coordinated protests organized to promote net neutrality and regulations for the equal treatment of Internet traffic, occurring on September 10, 2014. The official ...

. *Demand Progress has worked on various projects in tandem with numerous other similar organizations, such as Electronic Frontier Foundation,

Center for Democracy and Technology Centre for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. CDT seeks to promote legislation that enables individuals to use the internet for pu ...

, the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

Fight for the Future Fight for the Future (often abbreviated fightfortheftr or FFTF) is a nonprofit advocacy group in the area of digital rights founded in 2011. The group aims to promote causes related to copyright legislation, as well as online privacy and censor ...

, et al.

Opposition

* The

Trans-Pacific Partnership The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Sin ...

agreement, a sweeping trade agreement involving many countries around the Pacific Rim is being negotiated in secret as of July 2015. * President Obama's support for appointing chief presidential

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

supervisor John O. Brennan as a replacement for Secretary of State

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, on grounds of his association with political movements legitimizing

extrajudicial Extrajudicial punishment is a punishment for an alleged crime or offense which is carried out without legal process or supervision by a court or tribunal through a legal proceeding. Politically motivated Extrajudicial punishment is often a fe ...

killings, widely regarded by

civil libertarians Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties, or which emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state, a corporation, social no ...

state-sponsored terrorism State-sponsored terrorism is terrorist violence carried out with the active support of national governments provided to violent non-state actors. States can sponsor terrorist groups in several ways, including but not limited to funding terroris ...

. * COICA, and its descendants PIPA and

SOPA Sopa or SOPA may refer to: * Sopa (tribe), an Albanian tribe of the Sharr Mountains * Lake Sopa, Albania * School of Performing Arts Seoul, an arts high school in Seoul, South Korea * Senior Officer Present Afloat, a term used in the U.S. Navy ...

. It played a critical role in the passage of net neutrality rules in 2014–15 and has engaged in dozens of other campaigns since its inception. *

Backscatter X-ray Backscatter X-ray is an advanced X-ray imaging technology. Traditional X-ray machines detect hard and soft materials by the variation in x-ray intensity transmitted through the target. In contrast, backscatter X-ray detects the radiation that ...

or "nude scanning devices" used by the

Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within, and connecting to the United States. It was created ...

(TSA). *Government-mandated Internet IDs, a law proposed by (then) Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, which raised skepticism over the efficacy and questionable effects on privacy. *Continuation of the

Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

, which was set to expire in 2013 but swiftly received large support in Senate for a 5-year reauthorization in late 2012, only a few weeks before congressional terms expired. *

Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 () is a bill (proposed law), bill introduced in the United States Senate by Joe Lieberman (Independent Democrat, Connecticut), Susan Collins (Republican Party (United States), Republican Par ...

, in regard to the "kill switch" controversy which saw a public concern for executive power to "authorize emergency measures to protect the nation's most critical infrastructure if a cyber vulnerability is being exploited or is about to be exploited". * Modern debtors' prisons, which have also found opposition from justices in the various states where they are still legal. *

Censorship of Facebook Facebook is a social networking service that has been gradually replacing traditional media channels since 2010. Facebook has limited moderation of the content posted to its site. Because the site indiscriminately displays material publicly post ...

, including advocacy for an "anti-censorship policy" after Facebook deactivated Korryn Gaines's account *S. 978 (112th), an ill-defined bill which has the potential to allow

copyright troll A copyright troll is a party (person or company) that enforces copyrights it owns for purposes of making money through strategic litigation, in a manner considered unduly aggressive or opportunistic, sometimes while without producing or licensi ...

s to press charges against directors of online videos containing clips of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

ed media, and furthermore anyone who embeds said content into her own website. *The

Motion Picture Association of America The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

and

United States Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urgin ...

have stated their opposition to Demand Progress on numerous occasions, mainly in respect to their stance on internet censorship. David Moon, Demand Progress' program director, responded to their statements, noting that the mere existence of their retort was proof that "the proponents are panicking."

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official website

How can we further Aaron's legacy?
– a LinkedIn post featuring the documentary: Internet’s Own Boy: The story of Aaron Swartz Internet-related activism Internet-based activism Organizations established in 2010 527 organizations 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations Progressive organizations in the United States Advocacy groups in the United States 2010 establishments in the United States