The revelations of spying on telephone customers are extraordinary -- but it gets even worse. The government is spying, in real time, on rank-and-file Internet users. From the Guardian:

The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.

The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called PRISM, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.

Let's put it plainly: It has been conclusively demonstrated that the government is spying on millions of Americans, without meaningful oversight, and without the assent of the very people -- all of us -- whom our government is supposed to represent.

The top secret document obtained by the Guardian also lists Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube, Skype, and AOL as providers of user data to the NSA's PRISM program.

Those who have defended the government's enhanced cyber surveillance powers in the past argued that the NSA would have to get the consent of internet companies to obtain electronic communications -- but PRISM totally circumvents that, by giving the NSA direct access to the companies' servers!

What does all this mean? It means anything we do on the internet can be (and has been) monitored by the federal government.

This could be the turning point. We must not lie down as the NSA and the federal government eviscerate our privacy rights, invading and surveilling our every move.

Please sign on to our petition to the House Oversight Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee to demand an immediate investigation of this spying.

PETITION: The National Security Agency's internet spying program (PRISM) is an affront to our privacy rights. Investigate the ongoing spying on Americans and hold those responsible to account.