Protesters gather to protest NSA data center in Utah
Privacy advocates and self-described patriots came together on the 4th of July to denounce a government they believe is unconstitutionally spying on its own people.
The rally was in response to NSA surveillance program highlighted by Edward Snowden’s new reports. Over 150 people gathered at the plaza of Utah Veterans Memorial Park after they asked to leave a field near the access road for the new National Security Agency’s Utah Data Center.(more on that here)
Messages on signs proclaimed “Since When is My Blog a Matter of National Security?” and “The Answer to 1984 is 1776.”
The massive 1 million square feet facility will house 100,000 square feet with data-storage servers and 900,000 square feet will serve for technical and administrative support staff,which is expected to be less than 200 employees.
Utah is described as the perfect home for the data center which has a low potential for extreme weather-related disasters, plenty of room for expansion and a noted water source for cooling the servers.(a usage of 17 millions per day)
The last one listed by the NSA seems odd to the residents in the desert.
photo Fibonacci Blue via Flickr
[…] Michele Bachmann explains her vote and discusses what data is stored, possibly in the Utah Data Center […]
[…] Facebook, Google, Verizon and other sources have confirmed that emails, phone calls and records are all being gathered by the NSA and will be (or already are being) stored at the Utah data center. […]
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/shut-down-nsas-12-billion-dollar-utah-data-center/RMk4DTXg