A new protest by a coalition of special interest groups has raised awareness of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) role in using data for mass surveillance.

On Friday environment campaigner Greenpeace, digital rights watchdog Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Tenth Amendment Center (TAC) jointly flew an airship over the NSA’s data center in Utah to protest the government’s data policy. The protestors accuse the US authorities of an illegal mass surveillance program.

Greenpeace flew its 135 foot thermal airship over the NSA data center in Bluffdale, Utah carrying the message, “NSA Illegal Spying Below.” 

A web link written on the side of the giant balloon steered viewers to a new anti-NSA protest web site. The  StandAgainstSpying portal lists members of the US Congress and grades them according to the stand they have taken against surveillance.

According to Greenpeace, the politicians are marked according to what they have done, or failed to do, to oppose the use of the NSA.

The protest was supported by a coalition of more than 20 grassroots advocacy groups and internet companies.

The Utah data center has come to symbolize the NSA's collect-it-all approach to surveillance and mass spying, according to the EFF’s activism director Rainey Reitman.

“The public needs to be brought into the debate around surveillance reform happening right now,” Reitman said.

In May a survey by NTT suggested the NSA’s cyber surveillance is driving hosting business away from the US as data owners are becoming increasingly concerned about the sovereignty of data.

Out of 1,000 ICT decision-makers in France, Germany, Hong Kong, the UK and the US, 88% said they have changed their buying decisions as they look for a global host.

Greenpeace’s senior IT campaigner Gary Cook said the data centers are now being associated with ominous activity.

“People cannot protect their right to clean air and water if our civil rights – including the right to be free of unreasonable searches – are stripped away,” Cook said.

Greenpeace is a co-plaintiff on a lawsuit filed against the NSA by a broad coalition of membership and political advocacy organizations, represented by EFF, for violating their First Amendment right of association by illegally collecting their call records.