Hi All,
Yesterday, a federal district court granted the government's motion to
dismiss our Wikimedia v. NSA
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_v._NSA> case. For those
of you familiar with procedural rules, the Judge T.S. Ellis III dismissed
the case on standing <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_%28law%29>
grounds. What this means is that the court believed that we, along with our
co-plaintiffs, were unable to plausibly allege that the NSA is capturing
our communications. The ruling *did not* reach the substance and merits of
the case.
We respectfully disagree with the decision and plan on appealing. This was
not an unexpected outcome at this point in the litigation, and our counsel
at ACLU feel that this is a strong posture for appeal.
We continue to feel that the NSA’s mass surveillance poses a serious threat
to privacy, freedom of expression, and freedom of association -- rights
that are essential to the Wikimedia movement, rights that we will continue
to fight for. We thank the community for all of the support you have shown
for this effort throughout this process.
Please see our blog post
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/10/23/wikimedia-v-nsa-lawsuit-dismissal/>
for more information.
-Michelle
==
Michelle Paulson
Legal Director
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
mpaulson(a)wikimedia.org
415.839.6885 ext. 6608 (Office)
415.882.0495 (Fax)
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