<p>Dear Organizers of the Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMMs) and
sponsoring societies (AMS, ASL, CMS, MAA, SIAM), </p>
<p>The <a href="http://jointmathematicsmeetings.org/jmm">JMMs' website</a> indicates that, as in past years, the National Security Agency (NSA) will have a "booth in the exhibit hall" for recruiting young mathematicians.</p>
<p>We feel that aiding the NSA's recruitment efforts by allowing them a booth at the JMMs is inappropriate given
the NSA's unethical <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGmiw_rrNxk">surveillance</a> of staggering numbers of innocent people,
pernicious influence on law enforcement,
chilling effects on freedom of speech, and
harmful influence upon internet security. </p>
<p>We therefore ask you to cancel their exhibit booth as a step towards <a href="http://www.ams.org/notices/201311/rnoti-p1432.pdf">the healing process proposed by Alexander Beilinson</a> in <i>Notices of the AMS, col 60, no. 11</i> :
<blockquote><i>
<p>The NSA destroyed the security of the Internet and privacy of communications for the whole planet. But if any healing is possible, it would probably start with making the NSA and its ilk socially unacceptable—just as, in the days of my youth, working for the KGB was socially unacceptable for many in the Soviet Union.</p>
</i></blockquote>
<p>We reiterate Alexander Beilinson's call for the AMS, ASL, MAA, and SIAM to halt publishing recruitment advertisements for the NSA as well.</a></p>
<p>The NSA's offenses against civil society include :</p>
<ul>
<li>
The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data">NSA's PRISM program</a> completely bypasses the <!-- even the rubber stamp FISA court --> courts to surveil vast arrays of users, including American citizens. <a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/11/a_fraying_of_th.html">American companies</a> stand to lose <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/the-nsa-scandal-will-cost-us-tech-companies-tens-of-billions">tens of billions</a> due to their collaboration with the PRISM program.
</li>
<li>
The DEA's Special Operations Division (SOD) takes illegal surveillance of American citizens carried out by the NSA, and <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805">falsifies an investigation history to produce information usable in court</a>.
<!-- making the NSA in essence a part of ordinary law enforcement . -->
</li>
<li>
The NSA has <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/11/schneier-tells-washington-nsa-broke-internets-security-for-everyone/">sabotaged</a> various <a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/10/defending_again_1.html">cryptographic products</a> and <a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/09/how_to_remain_s.html">damaged</a> the <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/09/nsa_misuse_of_mathematics_secret_formulas_and_backdoor_cryptography.html">credibility</a> of <a href="http://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/10263/should-we-trust-the-nist-recommended-ecc-parameters">elliptic-curve cryptography</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<p>We have only recently begun seeing much documentation of the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/17/chilling-effect-nsa-surveillance-internet">chilling effects</a> that NSA surveillance has had on freedom of speech, but early signs indicate extensive effects. </p>
<ul>
<li>
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) compiled <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-files-22-firsthand-accounts-how-nsa-surveillance-chilled-right-association">twenty-two firsthand accounts how NSA surveillance chilled the right to association</a>, largely amongst <a href="http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/11/28/the-nsa-versus-issue-based-extremists/">activists</a>, for <a href="https://www.eff.org/press/releases/unitarian-church-gun-groups-join-eff-sue-nsa-over-illegal-surveillance">their massive lawsuit against the NSA</a>.
</li>
<li>
PEN America found that <a href="http://www.pen.org/chilling-effects">NSA surveillance has driven one in six, U.S. writers to self-censor</a> (<a href="http://www.pen.org/sites/default/files/Chilling%20Effects_PEN%20American.pdf">pdf</a>) and caused another one in six to seriously consider doing so.
</li>
</ul>
We remind you that, based upon only a fragment of the above revelations, the U.S.'s premiere computer security and hacker conference DEF CON <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/11/us-hackers-feds-idUSBRE96A08120130711">asked</a> the NSA, and other federal agencies, not merely to not exhibit or recruit this year, but not event to attend. Jeff Moss (aka The Dark Tangent) <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57593225-83/defcon-to-feds-we-need-some-time-apart/">wrote</a> on behalf of DEF CON :
<blockquote><i>
<p>Feds, we need some time apart.</p>
<p>For over two decades DEF CON has been an open nexus of hacker culture, a place where seasoned pros, hackers, academics, and feds can meet, share ideas and party on neutral territory. Our community operates in the spirit of openness, verified trust, and mutual respect.</p>
<p>When it comes to sharing and socializing with feds, recent revelations have made many in the community uncomfortable about this relationship. Therefore, I think it would be best for everyone involved if the feds call a "time-out" and not attend DEF CON this year.</p>
<p>This will give everybody time to think about how we got here, and what comes next.</p>
<!-- <p>The Dark Tangent</p> -->
</i></blockquote>
<p>Academic meetings like JMMs and societies like the AMS, ASL, MAA, and SIAM have at least as much obligation to uphold ethical standards, especially as an example to young mathematicians we educate.
We therefore hope you follow DEF CON's good example by asking the NSA not to participate in the JMMs this year and halt publishing recruitment advertisements for the NSA. </p>
<p>Respectfully yours,</p>