(Courtesy: StopWatchingUs)

This new video, narrated and produced by actress, activist and author Evangeline Lilly, details how the National Security Agency surveillance programs really work and urges concerned citizens to speak out at the upcoming StopWatchingUs rally in Washington, DC. “The government has turned the Internet we love into something it was never intended to be: a tool for surveilling everyone,” Lilly says.

Last night, a crowd of nearly 300 people gathered in Washington Square Park were the first people to view the short film, produced by Fight for the Future and Demand Progress, which was projected onto the side of a building in bustling lower Manhattan. The massive projection was done in coordination with The Illuminator, an NYC collective that uses huge projections to make political statements.

Numerous pedestrians stopped to watch the spectacle, as volunteers from the internet freedom group Restore the Fourth roamed the crowd handing out free popcorn and flyers for the Stop Watching Us rally in Washington, DC—a protest scheduled for the anniversary of the USA PATRIOT Act, October 26, that has been endorsed by a coalition of more than 100 groups from across the political spectrum.

The protest’s demand is for a full congressional investigation of America’s surveillance programs, reform to federal surveillance law, and accountability from public officials responsible for hiding this surveillance from lawmakers and the public. Sign the coalition’s petition and find out how you can support the campaign, whether you can get to DC on October 26 or not.