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Wikipedia Founder Sues NSA, Demands "End To NSA’s Dragnet Surveillance Of Internet Traffic"
By Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, is a board member of the Wikimedia Foundation, of which Lila Tretikov is the executive director, first posted in the NYT.
Stop Spying on Wikipedia Users
TODAY, we’re filing a lawsuit against the National Security Agency to protect the rights of the 500 million people who use Wikipedia every month. We’re doing so because a fundamental pillar of democracy is at stake: the free exchange of knowledge and ideas.
Our lawsuit says that the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance of Internet traffic on American soil — often called “upstream” surveillance — violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects the right to privacy, as well as the First Amendment, which protects the freedoms of expression and association. We also argue that this agency activity exceeds the authority granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that Congress amended in 2008.
Most people search and read Wikipedia anonymously, since you don’t need an account to view its tens of millions of articles in hundreds of languages. Every month, at least 75,000 volunteers in the United States and around the world contribute their time and passion to writing those articles and keeping the site going — and growing.
On our servers, run by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, those volunteers discuss their work on everything from Tiananmen Square to gay rights in Uganda. Many of them prefer to work anonymously, especially those who work on controversial issues or who live in countries with repressive governments.
These volunteers should be able to do their work without having to worry that the United States government is monitoring what they read and write. Unfortunately, their anonymity is far from certain because, using upstream surveillance, the N.S.A. intercepts and searches virtually all of the international text-based traffic that flows across the Internet “backbone” inside the United States. This is the network of fiber-optic cables and junctions that connect Wikipedia with its global community of readers and editors.
As a result, whenever someone overseas views or edits a Wikipedia page, it’s likely that the N.S.A. is tracking that activity — including the content of what was read or typed, as well as other information that can be linked to the person’s physical location and possible identity. These activities are sensitive and private: They can reveal everything from a person’s political and religious beliefs to sexual orientation and medical conditions.
The notion that the N.S.A. is monitoring Wikipedia’s users is not, unfortunately, a stretch of the imagination. One of the documents revealed by the whistle-blower Edward J. Snowden specifically identified Wikipedia as a target for surveillance, alongside several other major websites like CNN.com, Gmail and Facebook. The leaked slide from a classified PowerPoint presentation declared that monitoring these sites could allow N.S.A. analysts to learn “nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet.”
The harm to Wikimedia and the hundreds of millions of people who visit our websites is clear: Pervasive surveillance has a chilling effect. It stifles freedom of expression and the free exchange of knowledge that Wikimedia was designed to enable.
During the 2011 Arab uprisings, Wikipedia users collaborated to create articles that helped educate the world about what was happening. Continuing cooperation between American and Egyptian intelligence services is well established; the director of Egypt’s main spy agency under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi boasted in 2013 that he was “in constant contact” with the Central Intelligence Agency.
So imagine, now, a Wikipedia user in Egypt who wants to edit a page about government opposition or discuss it with fellow editors. If that user knows the N.S.A. is routinely combing through her contributions to Wikipedia, and possibly sharing information with her government, she will surely be less likely to add her knowledge or have that conversation, for fear of reprisal.
And then imagine this decision playing out in the minds of thousands of would-be contributors in other countries. That represents a loss for everyone who uses Wikipedia and the Internet — not just fellow editors, but hundreds of millions of readers in the United States and around the world.
In the lawsuit we’re filing with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, we’re joining as a fellow plaintiff a broad coalition of human rights, civil society, legal, media and information organizations. Their work, like ours, requires them to engage in sensitive Internet communications with people outside the United States.
That is why we’re asking the court to order an end to the N.S.A.’s dragnet surveillance of Internet traffic.
Privacy is an essential right. It makes freedom of expression possible, and sustains freedom of inquiry and association. It empowers us to read, write and communicate in confidence, without fear of persecution. Knowledge flourishes where privacy is protected.
* * *
Good luck, especially if you filed that lawsuit in the "land of the free and home of the brave."
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Beware of nail guns!
No! Beware of approaching garbage trucks!
All I see is Heckle and Jeckle with a clock
I know we all reference wiki here and there.
.
But, when it comes to the big heavy stuff - wikipedia is just a tentacle of the monster spreading disinfo.
If people knew their kitty history, they'd realize privacy used to be an essential right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Lvv1f5Qu4
Chances are the government will get this dismissed either through claiming national security, or claiming that they lack standing.
But, when it comes to the big heavy stuff - wikipedia is just a tentacle of the monster spreading disinfo.
I totally agree - wikipedia is heavily propagandized - and any attempts to put any truth up there (anything other than the government-sanctioned story) is quickly squashed by Jimmy Wales et. al. (who is - again - Jewish. I know, I know, coorelation is not causation, but man - the same themes keep showing up over and over and over....)
The hypocrisy of Wales suing the NSA is almost too much to stomach....
All I see is Heckle and Jeckle with a cock.
All I see is Heckle and Jeckle with a cock.
All I see is Heckle and Jeckle with a GLOCK.
Which incidents with garbage trucks are you referring to ?
And can anybody explain me where the American expression "To throw somebody under the bus" comes from ?
The only thing you missed was the four parking spots in the front that need handicap stenciled paint, you know......for all the mobility impaired folk. Just for good measure, like walmart and others, make them two or three deep so us fuckers that bother to walk can walk an extra half mile.
Why are you shopping at Walmart?
everyone should shop at walmart, cheap ammo....
Your Walmart has ammo? Around here, we have asshats waiting in line at 5AM on delivery days to hoard it all....
"Why are you shopping at Walmart?"
Call me crazy, but because I can get the same products available elsewhere for less money.
"Government isn't the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." R. Reagan
That's kind of like when Spock said, "Everything I say is a lie. I am lying," and the androids' heads exploded.
Wikipedia itself is a CIA agitprop tool.
If you could document that accusation half as well as most wiki articles are documented I might give you a listen.
And that is exactly why the NSA should be barred from spying it.
My money is on those two agencies being cooperative and all but not really on the same side once all the other "threats" are gone.
I read disparaging comments about Wikipedia.
But at least they are trying to do something about this NSA shit, which is more than Congress or the people are doing right now, they are all focused on that porno star Kardashian's butt to really care that their rights are being taken away.
It's ZH, they hate everybody but Putin.
Those who do hate Putin appear to have quite a large investment in that emotion while those who don't hate Putin are more focused on things which affect their own world and their own lives. Same with Muslims. Neither Putin nor any Muslim ever hurt me so why would I go along with the insane warmongers whose efforts could only make my life worse?
If you ever see Putin or a Muslim come onto my property without my permission let me know. Until then stop bothering me.
You are so dreamy.
Putin has to play the same crappy games domestically as anyone in charge of a huge nation... domestically he is as bad as if not worse than any of them.... but internationally he's rather shrewd and stands up against the US EU UK CA AU power axis (of evil).
Having the Nemtsov profile page updated in real time as he was being shot, I suppose, was the last straw...... [man].
your "last straw" just happened a couple weeks ago??? you're a far more patient man than I
"Having the Nemtsov profile page updated in real time as he was being shot"
If that accusation was in a Wikipedia article it would be documented. With you, not so much. "Trust but verify" is a good rule. You've provided nothing to verify, likely because you have nothing at all. Not to mention the fact that what you suggest wouldn't benefit the killers but would rather provide a lead for their exposure. So go ahead and expose them.
ya, good luck with that one.
he is American hero
I'm proud of him
Wikipedia suing the NSA!
Bizarro world indeed, when does this ride stop? I'm getting motion sickness.
Wiki is on your side, you can go there and look up all the shit you want and make any updates you like, they're on your side and would never turn over the goods on you.
It's a psyop dude.
It's a psyop dude.
Or its the 21st century version of a PBS funding drive. "We're fighting the NSA, donate money now." Of course if you donate at the gold level, you get a free t-shirt that says: I fought the Wikid NSA and the Wikid NSA won.
What part of the fix is in don't you get? Judicial redress? Stop it! You're killin' me!
Wait! There's moar! You get to pay for the government's defense! (Non-US citizens and illegals exempt)
Wait, I thought Wikipedia was a CIA creation.
CIA is at war with NSA. NSA is sucking up all the CIA funds.
As soon as they make it so that you can buy heroin with your EBT card, CIA will see a boost to its bottom line.
Heroin, oil, gold & any other Natural Resouce your soon to be Soverign Destabiliazted Country has.
Will donate bitcoin to this legal fund... fwiw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nail_gun
Even if Wiki wins the surveillance will continue. It'll just go deeper into the shadow government. The power mongers, both public and private, are just like pedophiles. Once started they cannot stop.
Yes that is why it is important not to cross bright lines. And why it is important to have leaders who have a sense of propriety, which we have not had for awhile.
Expect to see Jimmy Wales and the other founders have mysterious car accidents on Santa Monica Blvd where their cars suddenly accelerate out of control for no reason and crash into the trees in the median in a ball of fire. I wouldnt vists SoCal if I were him.
Time for a bigger wrench.
What the hell are you talking about? A lot of them *are* pedophiles.
I predict Wikipedia's donation drive just moonshot.
Probably why they did it, old fashioned begging wasn't working well enough.
We all know that the NSA was given some extra-constitutional authority (wink, wink, nod, nod) to "protect" us by looking at every piece of electronic and some non-electronic forms of information exchange.
So if you don't want to copy in .gov in every single thing, conduct your business through non-electronic means.
If it has a screen, .gov will see it. If it needs batteries or a plug, .gov will see it. When you eliminate those possibilities, not only does it become significantly less expensive, but it also becomes much easier for you to control. Arm yourself with paper, pencil, and a book of matches: the barbarous relics of communication!
Jew vs. Jew is never serious, just more theater for the Goy.
Now you can get back to work slaving, there is nothing to worry about, they're addressing the NSA and wiki only tells the truth. LMAO!
"The disclosure that the NSA agreed to provide raw intelligence data to a foreign country contrasts with assurances from the Obama administration that there are rigorous safeguards to protect the privacy of US citizens caught in the dragnet. The intelligence community calls this process "minimization", but the memorandum makes clear that the information shared with the Israelis would be in its pre-minimized state...
Although the memorandum is explicit in saying the material had to be handled in accordance with US law, and that the Israelis agreed not to deliberately target Americans identified in the data, these rules are not backed up by legal obligations."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data...
the argument about US citizens is a side track... your neo nazi Govt. can spy on you all it likes - it's your job to over throw them if you don't like it.
what they cannot do is spy on non US citizens willy nilly.....
Im pretty sure they cant be sued.
My guess is 'net neutrality' covered this base.
Can't see this one going very far. If it ever makes it to the Supreme Court, and that is a huge IF, it would lose. Too many Executive Orders, Patriot Act, etc. blah blah. The Supreme Court already sold out democracy for corporatocracy when they legalized unlimited corporate political lobby spending and Super Pacs, etc. Yes you can vote on the menu, but nothing on it is appealing or even slightly good for you! Move along, nothing to see here.
"This court finds no standing due to unsubstantiated/unconfirmed sources. And on a personal note: How are you so stupid that you expect results when you complain about a government activity in a government court? Those are my boyz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Nailed it. Those supremos know which side their bread is buttered on as well as who holds the nailguns.
"the free exchange of knowledge and ideas", what Wikipedia is NOT. Try to modify a "sensitive" page and tell me how it went...
Actually, it works fine - as long as you amend it in line with the narrative of the US State Department
i'm sure their surveillance will be considered a tax, and therefore permissable, and no appeals will be permitted.
I'm sure asking DC employees to apply pro-DC rules in a DC-owned forum to repair an injury caused by other, more powerful, DC employees will work out well for it.
Government agencies are mercenaries for pedophiles. If you stop Goldman Sachs you'll stop a gang Pedophiles.
Is this a joke?
Well, no doubt that Wikipedia really wants Joe Sixpack to have unhindered access to it's encyclopedia of 9/11 myths, historical miisinformation, and political horseshit.
I beg your pardon!
Wikipedia is the cornerstone of every high school student and college underclassman for essays and term papers.
.
"So imagine, now, a Wikipedia user in Egypt who wants to edit a page" is not protected by the 4th or 1st amendment. Maybe Wikipedia needs to read some of its own articles on the Constitution.
He's blowing smoke to continue the fantasy that there are any honest judges or courts in the USA.
Shit like this is the equivalent of "extend and pretend".
Published on Jan 28, 2015A 36-year veteran of America’s Intelligence Community, William Binney resigned from his position as Director for Global Communications Intelligence (COMINT) at the National Security Agency (NSA) and blew the whistle, after discovering that his efforts to protect the privacy and security of Americans were being undermined by those above him in the chain of command.
The NSA data-monitoring program which Binney and his team had developed -- codenamed ThinThread -- was being aimed not at foreign targets as intended, but at Americans (codenamed as Stellar Wind); destroying privacy here and around the world. Binney voices his call to action for the billions of individuals whose rights are currently being violated.
William Binney speaks out in this feature-length interview with Tragedy and Hope's Richard Grove, focused on the topic of the ever-growing Surveillance State in America.
http://youtu.be/3owk7vEEOvs
Supreme Court response CERT DENIED.
This shit has been tried before. See Sonzinsky V US. In a nutshell. Fedferal Legislation (NFA of 1934). The merits involved a dealer in firearms and a special excise imposed under what the USSC acknowleged in other case law under THE ALLEGED POWER TO PROHIBIT.
In the term following the Constantine opinion, this Court pointed out in
Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U.S. 506, at 513 (a case involving a tax on a "limited class" of objectionable firearms alleged to be prohibitory in effect and "to disclose unmistakably the legislative [345 U.S. 22, 26] purpose to regulate rather than to tax"), that the subject of the tax in Constantine was "described or treated as criminal by the taxing
statute."
Notwithstanding the fact that this case law has been overlooked, Sonzinsky tried to argue that the application of the special excise violated the rights of his customers. Hahahahahahahaha. The response from the USSC? YOU have NO STANDING to reach into the second amendment protections of your customers (collateral inquiry) as the MEANS to limit the plenary political powers being exercised. Different subject matter irrelevent. Same principles of law apply.
To Whit:
U.S. Supreme Court Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U.S. 506 (1937)Sonzinsky v. United States
No. 614
Argued March 12, 1937
Decided March 29, 1937
300 U.S. 506
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. That part of the National Firearms Act which provides that every dealer in firearms shall register and shall pay an annual tax of $200 or be subject to fine and imprisonment is a valid exercise of the taxing power of Congress. Pp. 300 U. S. 511et seq.
The term "firearm" is defined by § 1 of the Act as meaning a shotgun or rifle having a barrel less than eighteen inches in length, or any other weapon, except a pistol or revolver, from which a shot is discharged by an explosive, if capable of being concealed on the person, or a machine gun, and includes a muffler or silencer for any firearm.
Page 300 U. S. 507
2. Congress may select the subjects of taxation, choosing some and omitting others. It may impose excise taxes on the doing of business. P. 300 U. S. 512.
3. The tax upon dealers, supra, is not in the category of penalties imposed for the enforcement of regulations beyond the scope of congressional power. P. 300 U. S. 513.
4. A tax may have regulatory effects and may burden, restrict or suppress the thing taxed and still be within the taxing power. P. 300 U. S. 513.
5. Courts may not inquire into the motives of Congress in exercising its powers; they will not undertake, by collateral inquiry as to the measure of the regulatory effect of a tax, to ascribe to Congress an attempt, under the guise of taxation, to exercise another power denied by the Federal Constitution. P. 300 U. S. 513.
Oh and on a separate note to the FUCKING FRAUD THAT IS THE NRA. With all your god damn millions of dollars and so called world class legal team: WHY HAS THERE BEEN NO DIRECT INQUIRY???? THE NFA OF 1934 STANDS AND YET NO CHALLENGE!!!! JUST WHERE THE FUCK DID THE FEDERAL CONGRESS AQUIRE THE POWER TO PROHIBIT IN THE FACE OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT???? OH WELL WHY ASK???, I GET IT. THESE FUCKS GET TO PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT TO PROHIBIT BASED ON A HANDS OFF POLITICAL QUESTION POWER THAT THE COURTS CAN NOT AND WILL NOT FUCK WITH......AS IT RUNS OUTSIDE THE SCOPE OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT BECAUSE THOSE SO PROPELY CLASSIFIED AS ENGAGED IN A LICENSED AND TAXABLE BUSINESS/OCCUPATIONAL PRIVILEGE AFFECTING THE HEALTH, SAFETY AND SA RIGHTS NOT POSSESSED BY THE FEDERAL LICENSEE??
ANOTHER GEM. LETS JUST FORGET THE PRINCIPLE THAT WHAT CANNOT BE DONE DIRECTLY BECAUSE OF CONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTION CANNOT BE DONE INDIRECTLY VIA LEGISLATION THAT CREATES THE SAME RESULT. DOES THE POWER TO "CURTAIL, HINDER, AND PROHIBIT NOT FALL WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF "INFRINGE". AGAIN, IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHO IS BEING REGULATED DOESNT IT
. In the License Tax Cases, supra, it was admitted that the federal (FIREARMS) license "discouraged" the activities. The intent to curtail and hinder, as well as tax, was also manifest in
the following cases, and in each of them the tax was upheld: Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533 (tax on paper money issued by state banks); McCray v. United States, 195 U.S. 27, 59 (tax on colored oleomargarine); United States v. Doremus, 249 U.S. 86, and Nigro v. United States, 276 U.S. 332
(tax on narcotics); Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U.S. 506 (tax on firearms); United States v. Sanchez, 340 U.S. 42 (tax on marihuana).
[345 U.S. 22, 28]
. In the License Tax Cases, supra, it was admitted that the federal license "discouraged" the activities. The intent to curtail and hinder, as well as tax, was also manifest in
the following cases, and in each of them the tax was upheld: Veazie Bank v. Fenno, 8 Wall. 533 (tax on paper money issued by state banks); McCray v. United States, 195 U.S. 27, 59 (tax on colored oleomargarine); United States v. Doremus, 249 U.S. 86, and Nigro v. United States, 276 U.S. 332
(tax on narcotics); Sonzinsky v. United States, 300 U.S. 506 (tax on firearms); United States v. Sanchez, 340 U.S. 42 (tax on marihuana).
[345 U.S. 22, 28]
I wish them all the luck in the world. It's so obviously unconstitutional and yet continues thus far. Oh wait, the fourth says "papers" and emails arent on paper, so it's up to a judges discretion and interpretation. I proclaim this lawsuit defeated on the basis of fatherland securitah! Fuck Orwell, I would like to have been more suprised.
Closed cells, face to face, paper and match, local hard to infiltrate groups are the communicaions of the future.
And what Judge is going to commit career suicide or be suicided to help the American people?
There are plenty, only the judge would need to have never, themselves, used the internet as it would serve to subject tem to blackmail. This reduces the aforementioned "plenty" to NONE.
You don't need to never have used the internet. You need to not ever had an internet capable device and/or service.
NAMBLA porn can be planted. Lord knows TPTB have plenty of that in the top drawer ready to go.
In case I haven't said it lately, fuck you NSA cunts. And you queers can put that on my permanent record. I used to laff when they told me that in skool.
The constitution. Hahahahahaha. Like they think there's a limit to their power.
Sue the state with the state. That will work.
NSA surveils Wiki, Facebook and CNN, as in they accomplish nothing. That is the spying program from a CrackerJack box.
They are still in the implementation phase, its true use has yet to be exercised.
Ron Paul spoke on the house floor about NSA's overreach....in 1984
not so sure now, are you? Oh well, you have to be sane to see it. I can't see it...
Whether the doestic spying violates this or that amendment is beside the point. Our rights are not limited to those enumerated in the constitution. The federal government, however, is limited to those authorities granted it by the constitution. Nowhere in that document is a single clause that can plausibly be stretched to justify the surveillance. It is important that we no be herded into a mindset that the feds can do anything not explicitly prhibited by the BOR.
Don't worry --- when the collapse hits this will all end.