SP’s: The US District Court has dismissed a lawsuit by Wikimedia against the NSA surveillance. The District Court ruled that the lawsuit merely rested on “the subjective fear of surveillance” and it was “unpersuasive,” “incomplete,” and “riddled with assumptions.”
It’s a widely accepted fact that USA government is busy spending billions on its NSA surveillance programs – thanks to Mr. Edward Snowden. But, proving the whole scenario in the court and presenting concrete evidences is a whole different kind of story.
Due to this simple reason, a lawsuit by Wikimedia against the mighty NSA been thrown out of the court. The court mentioned there is no way to determine if the Wikimedia Foundation is under NSA surveillance.
The US District Judge TS Ellis IIIt ruled against Wikimedia and stated that there isn’t enough evidence to “plausibly establish that the NSA is using upstream surveillance.”
Wikimedia, supported by the likes of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International USA, complained about NSA’s surveillance as revealed by Edward Snowden. The lawsuit suggested that the massive amount of traffic Wikipedia receives suggest that the NSA’s mass surveillance must have included spying on the activities of Wikipedia users.
Judge TS Ellis III stated that without proper context, it’s unclear whether or not Wikimedia is under the preying eyes of NSA. He rules that lawsuit merely rested on “the subjective fear of surveillance” and it was “unpersuasive,” “incomplete,” and “riddled with assumptions.”
Let’s take a look at what different parties had to say about the case:
On the Wikimedia blog, Michelle Paulson and Geoff Brigham, Legal Director and General Counsel, wrote about the possibility of the future appeals to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals: “We respectfully disagree with the Court’s decision to dismiss. There is no question that Upstream surveillance captures the communications of both the user community and the Wikimedia Foundation itself. We believe that our claims have merit.”
The ACLU National Security Project Staff Attorney Patrick Toomey said,“The court has wrongly insulated the NSA’s spying from meaningful judicial scrutiny. The decision turns a blind eye to the fact that the government is tapping into the Internet’s backbone to spy on millions of Americans.”
What are your thoughts on the rejected lawsuit against NSA syping? Tell us in the comments below.