Surveillance Awareness Project

A proposal prepared by
Team Underachievers
Shea Polansky
Gabriela Cde Baca
Jacob Nevarez
Elliot Nicholas For Dr. Natasha Jones
University of New Mexico 2014-10-21 Team Underachievers
Memo

TO: Dr. Natasha Jones
FROM: Team Underachievers
DATE: 2014-10-7
SUBJECT: Proposal
PURPOSE: To acquaint you with our proposal

Dear Dr. Jones,
Edward Snowden’s leaks about the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs created a global debate about privacy, security, and safety. The NSA has the capability to read email, snoop on private social network conversations, observe phone call records, and track the physical locations of citizens not charged nor suspected of any crime, without so much as a warrant. Worse, the demographic most affected this level of snooping on our digital lives, the 18-24 year-old college crowd, is the least knowledgeable and most politically apathetic about the issue. This is a recipe for disaster, and this proposal seeks funding for an awareness campaign that will address it.
This campaign will raise awareness about mass surveillance and the Snowden disclosures. We will use posters and flyers to dry attention to the issue. We will use the University of New Mexico as a testing ground, using before and after surveys to gauge effectiveness. If the campaign proves successful, we will recruit volunteers and raise a second round of funding to bring the campaign to college campuses across the nation. Team Underachievers would be at the forefront of both campaigns, personally executing the trial campaign and overseeing the potential national one.
After the acceptance of this proposal, we will immediately begin designing our materials and sourcing the cheapest places to mass produce them. We look forward to discussing our proposal in depth and answering any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to contact us at mail@teamunderachievers.us, or at (555) 954-1238.

Page 15 of 17 Contents
Illustrations 2
Tables 2
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 4
Problem Statement 4
The Solution: Awareness Campaign 5
Surveillance Awareness Project 7
Posters 7
Flyers 7
College Setting 7
Statement of Work 7
1. Survey 7
2. Sourcing and Design 7
3. Poster Installation and Flyer handout 8
4. Posters 8
5. Follow up survey 8
6. National plan 8
Management/Personnel information 8
Shea Polansky 8
Elliot Nicholas 9
Jake Nevarez 9
Cost information 9
Summary and Conclusion 9
Bibliography 11
Appendix A: Survey Questions 12
Background Section Questions 12
NSA Section Questions 12
Appendix B: Analysis of Survey Data 13

Illustrations
Figure 1: TOP SECRET slide leaked by Snowden 4
Figure 2: Awareness of survey respondents to various facts 5
Figure 3: Responses to the question of government access 6
Figure 4: Timeline of proposed project 8
Figure 5: Reported Political Activity by Age Level 13
Figure 6: Age distribution of Survey Respondents 13
Figure 7: Political Activity Level Distribution by Age 14
Figure 8: Awareness Score Frequency Distribution 14
Figure 9: Distribution of Awareness Score by Age 15 Tables
Table 1: Itemized cost information 9 Page 15 of 17 Executive Summary
In May of 2013, Edward Joseph Snowden, former contractor for the National Security Agency, boarded a plane from Hawaii to Hong Kong, where he gave a cache of classified documents he downloaded from the NSA’s classified internal network to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. On June 5, the first story based on those documents broke, revealing that the National Security Agency had served Verizon Communications with a court order demanding that they turn over all phone records and metadata, including the numbers on both ends, the date and time, and the duration of the call, to the NSA (Gidda, 2013). On June 6, the Guardian revealed that the NSA has forced many US-based technology, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Facebook, companies to grant the NSA access to their internal systems, allowing intelligence analysts carte-blanche access to user data without so much as a warrant (Lütticke, 2013). On June 9, Edward Snowden revealed himself as the source of the leaks, and immediately became the most wanted man in the world. The US revoked his passport, charged him under the Espionage Act, and even forced a plane carrying the President of Ecuador to land on the suspicion that it was carrying Snowden. Snowden’s disclosures continued, revealing all-encompassing mass-surveillance across North America, Europe, and Oceania. Snowden eventually took asylum in Russia, where he resides today (Gidda, 2013).
Snowden’s disclosures prompted a global discussion on privacy and security, but very little of the NSA’s powers and abilities have changed until now, over a year later. Part of the reason is that the demographic most affected by digital mass surveillance is the 18-24 year-old age group, a group that is also the least politically active and least likely to be aware of the scope and depth of the surveillance. Our studies show that members of the college demographic show both extremely low awareness and low political activity levels for the college age group. This is not the foundation of an effective democratic government, and we aim to change that.
This proposal calls for funding for a local campaign on the University of New Mexico campus to raise awareness about mass surveillance and the methods available to protect against it. The campaign will mainly include posters and flyers, with a followup survey used to measure success. If successful, we will attempt to raise a second round of funding to be used to go national, recruiting volunteers and using our existing marketing assets to expand awareness on college campuses throughout the nation. Introduction
In June 2013, Edward Snowden leaked some of the National Security Agency’s top-secret information regarding privacy among certain technological tools (McCarthy, 2014). This included records of calls, social media, as well as basic Internet browsing. Specifically, the NSA has been keeping track of phone numbers, some personal information via Facebook, and almost everything a single user browses while on the Internet (Stray, 2013). All of the tools that the citizens of America use on a daily basis are being closely monitored and stored, and no one was aware of this drastic violation prior to Snowden. Our team conducted a short survey asking college students to answer questions about their awareness of the capabilities of the NSA. Our results showed that the college age group is generally unaware of the NSA’s reach and powers.
Problem Statement
Our survey results show that the average member of the UNM campus is generally unaware of the NSA’s reach into our personal lives. It is important to realize that this affects every individual that uses any sort of program that is internet based. Social media, E-mail services, and internet browsing on any engine are all monitored to some extent. Also, it is possible to be placed on a watch list for keywords that the NSA believes to be related to illegal activity. The privacy and rights of every individual are in question and it is imperative that the people being monitored become aware. This ongoing issue of privacy touches everyone, but those most affected are also most unaware. College students use social media on a daily basis, often more than once a day, yet they are essentially blind to the severity of the issue. Although this issue cannot be easily solved, the power of knowledge will be beneficial.

Figure 1: TOP SECRET slide leaked by Snowden
The Solution: Awareness Campaign
The most effective way to combat an issue of this degree is to spread awareness within the college age group. We would like to utilize posters and flyers to spread awareness, while also taking before and after surveys to measure our success. Our preliminary research began with a survey asking basic background questions about age, gender, and political activeness, followed by more NSA-specific questions. All of which was done on the University of New Mexico campus, which we selected as representative of college campuses across the nation. The results of the surveys showed that an overwhelming majority of individuals in the college age group are seemingly unaware of the issue. They are active on social media, although they are not entirely aware of what the NSA is currently doing.

Figure 2: Awareness of survey respondents to various facts
Awareness of social media monitoring according to our survey
Despite their general lack of awareness about the NSA’s powers, surveyed individuals generally disapproved of the expanse of those powers when made aware:

Figure 3: Responses to the question of government access
After the first survey, we plan to create posters and flyers to put up and hand out around the campus. College students do not typically have a lot of time, so our flyers and posters will be captivating and flashy, to better draw attention from time-starved college students. Additionally a follow up survey will be given to show the progress that we have made over the course of a couple months. If our campaign is successful, we will use the University of New Mexico campaign as a template for launching campaigns on college campuses nationwide. We will recruit volunteers, secure additional funding, and coordinate awareness campaigns on as many college campuses as we can.

Surveillance Awareness Project
Launching a campaign is the most efficient and effective way to increase awareness about the actions of the NSA and gain political support from college-age citizens. Keeping the campaign local will help to determine our probable success rate if or when the campaign is extended to college campuses nationally. We plan to advertise solely on college campuses by use of posters and flyers.
Posters
For the most part, a college campus is a moving audience, meaning that there will be a short period of time to capture the attention of passersby. The posters will be a 24” by 36” design, therefore the placement, color, message, etc. must all be that to maximize viewing time and interest. Our posters will be tailored to our audience and their level of understanding and will be well-organized, colorful, and impactful. The posters will be placed at eye-level in frequently traveled areas such as dining halls, libraries, dormitories, major lecture halls, etc.
Flyers
Our flyers will be a standard “tri-fold” with dimensions of 8.5” and 11” as they are easily mailed and stored in any backpacks or purses. They will have a vibrant color scheme and eye-catching but readable fonts. The front of the flyer will have a well-worded hook to interest our readers and creative art relevant to our topic.
College Setting
Our campaign is centered on university campuses because about three fourths of college students are not politically active. Despite their constant connection to social media, a large majority of them are unaware of most nationwide news, including the NSA’s management of American’s personal information. Our hope is that the outcome of our campaign will support both of these issues, making students more aware and in turn, more involved in the politics of our nation.
Statement of Work
In the next section, we will give an in depth description as to how we will create a successful awareness campaign.
1. Survey
The preliminary action for the campaign will be to conduct the initial survey for one week. There are two sections to the survey, a background portion (with input such as name, age, gender, etc.) as well as a portion that asks specific questions about the people’s knowledge of the NSA. The NSA specific portion asks questions that are both factual and thought provoking. We want to conduct the interviews for a week to ensure that we have a wide range of participants, and to avoid any biased data.
2. Sourcing and Design
The poster design for the campaign is crucial to a successful outcome. We are going to take two weeks to brainstorm and put together a poster that effectively captivates the importance and relevance of the issue. In addition, we have decided on 24” x 36” posters, and basic three fold flyers to both put up and hand out on the campus. We will be contacting multiple printing companies to find the quality that we need. This portion in particular will take one week. As a whole, the design and sourcing of the posters and flyers will take three weeks.
3. Poster Installation and Flyer handout
We would like to keep the costs of the operation minimal. As a result, we are going to provide the labor ourselves, and put up the posters and hand out flyers.
4. Posters
We would prefer that the posters be seen frequently over a period of time and therefore plan to leave the posters up for at least one week. This will ensure that we can maximize viewing time in order to get adequate results for our follow-up survey.
5. Follow up survey
We would like to gauge any progress that we made. By this point, we will have conducted the first survey, and hopefully caught the attention of individuals through our posters and flyers. The most efficient way to measure progress is to do a follow up survey to see how or if the awareness of the individuals on campus has changed.
6. National plan
With a problem of this degree, it is important that we impact large amounts of individuals not only on our college campus, but others across the nation. If we spread the word to multiple colleges, we can hope that national awareness will drastically increase. If we run a successful campaign, we will then spend three months recruiting volunteers from college campuses nationwide. We will develop a detailed action plan (similar to our completed campaign) that will provided a step by step guide for the volunteers to raise awareness on their campuses. We will also develop a proposal for a second round of funding for our national campaign. Project Timeline

Figure 4: Timeline of proposed project
Management/Personnel information
Shea Polansky
Computer Science, BSc. Information Security Management, MS. Long history of political activism and security analysis. Also has graphic design and marketing skills.
Elliot Nicholas
Obtaining a bachelors in civil engineering. Previously worked for the state legislature, has a strong knowledge of political protocol as well as citizen rights.
Jake Nevarez
Majoring in computer science with a minor in journalism. Designed two separate awareness campaigns on tobacco use and technological safety. Spends a large majority of time participating in various active social justice groups around campus.
Gabriela Cde Baca
Obtaining a bachelor’s degree in human relations. Previously worked for Intel in Albuquerque and has a great understanding of human behavior. Our team is well rounded and committed to our cause. We are qualified and will surely exceed in our goal to spread the awareness of the NSA and its powers.
Cost information
For the initial survey we need to generate enough money for the design, production, and distribution of 50 posters as well as 200 fliers. The work force is going to be composed entirely of volunteers and the collection of the survey will be done electronically; our only costs will be the production of the fliers and posters.
Poster cost is $9.99 per 24” by 36” poster. The cost of fliers is 6 cents per flyer. Our survey requires 50 posters to be made and posted around campus as well as 200 fliers to be handed out. We are asking for $511.50. These costs are projected based on prices from local printers, the prices will vary slightly from campus to campus.
Table 1: Itemized cost information
Item
Quantity
Unit Cost
Cost
Posters
50
$9.99
$499.50
Flyers
200
$0.06
$12.00
Work force
10
$0.00 (Volunteers)
$0.00
Total
-
-
$511.50
Summary and Conclusion
The campaign we are proposing has the potential to have an enormous positive impact on the future of the United States. Snowden’s leaks have shown the extent of global mass surveillance. The National Security Agency has carte-blanche access to our email, Facebook profiles, and phone calls. The NSA tracks our cell phones, watches our friends lists, and listens to our electronic conversations, all without so much as a warrant (Macaskill, Dance, Cage, & Chen, 2013). Worst of all, the people most affected by this, the 18-24 age bracket, are the least aware and most politically apathetic one. This is a recipe for disillusionment and failure, and must change. This campaign can achieve those goals.
This campaign is our plan to push the politically apathetic members of the 18-24 age bracket become more aware and more involved in politics, especially with regards to digital surveillance, a topic that primarily affects them. We will use the University of New Mexico as a testing ground for a future national campaign to raise awareness of this issue. We will recruit a national network of volunteers to execute our campaign on college campuses across the nation. We will create a variety of posters and flyers to raise awareness, and distribute the most successful ones to our volunteers, who will tweak them to better suit their local audience. We will ultimately attempt to make mass surveillance an important issue in future political campaigns.
As the college students of today age and replace the older generations as the primary voting demographic, it is of the utmost importance that they be politically aware and active, particularly about matters that personally affect them the most, such as mass surveillance. This campaign will help ensure that people are aware and involved in political issues. With the proper support, we could change the course of the United States for the better. This is not a proposal that America can afford for you to ignore. Bibliography
Gidda, M. (2013, July 25). Edward Snowden and the NSA files – timeline | US news | The Guardian. Retrieved 10 19, 2014
Lütticke, M. (2013, October 10). A chronology of the NSA surveillance scandal | World | DW.DE | 31.10.2013. Retrieved 19 10, 2014
Macaskill, E., Dance, G., Cage, F., & Chen, G. (2013, November 1). NSA Files Decoded: Edward Snowdens' Surveilance Revelations Explained. Retrieved 10 19, 2014
McCarthy, T. (2014, May 29). Edward Snowden: 'If I could go anywhere that place would be home' | US News | theguardian.com. Retrieved 10 19, 2014
Stray, J. (2013, June 27). FAQ: What You Need to Know About the NSA’s Surveillance Programs - ProPublica. Retrieved 10 19, 2014

Appendix A: Survey Questions
Our survey was separated into two sections, a background section and an NSA-specific section. The background questions were all optional, and the questions in the NSA section were mandatory.
Background Section Questions
1. What is your gender? (Male/Female/Other)
2. How old are you?
3. How politically active are you? (1/2/3/4/5)
4. How often do you use social media? (Never/Once a week/Once per day/Two to three times per day/Many times per day)
5. How mindful are you of your online privacy? (1/2/3/4/5)
NSA Section Questions
1. How closely did you follow the NSA Revelations of the past year? (1/2/3/4/5)
2. Were you aware (before reading this question) that the National Security Agency has the capability to read all of your email messages without a warrant? (Yes/No)
3. Were you aware (before reading this question) that the National Security Agency has the capability to read all of your social media posts, regardless of privacy settings, without a warrant? (Yes/No)
4. Were you aware (before reading this question) that the National Security Agency has the capability to read all of your text messages and cell phone logs without a warrant? (Yes/No)
5. Do you think it is acceptable that members of the government should have this level of access into your personal life without the protection of a warrant? (Yes/No)
6. How much has knowing what you know now about the NSA's capabilities changed the way you use the internet and social media? (1/2/3/4/5)
Appendix B: Analysis of Survey Data

Figure 5: Reported political activity by age level

Figure 6: Age distribution of Survey Respondents

This chart shows political activity labels by age. The horizontal axis is age, the vertical is activity level, and the size of each bubble (as well as each bubble’s label) is the frequency of that specific combination of responses.

Figure 7: Political activity level distribution by age
We calculated an Awareness Score for each respondent. A respondent’s Awareness Score is the number of ‘Yes’ responses they gave to the series of questions beginning with “Are you aware…”

Figure 8: Awareness score frequency distribution
This chart shows awareness score plotted by age. The horizontal axis is the age, the vertical is the Awareness Score, and the size of each bubble (and its label) is the frequency of that combination of responses.

Figure 9: Distribution of Awareness Score by age