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@wikimedia.org 415.839.6885 ext. 6608 (Office) 415.882.0495 (Fax)
*NOTICE: This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation and for legal/ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.*
Thanks for the prompt update Michelle.
I can imagine a lot of work goes into a legal action like this, unless it is on a pro bono footing. Are the WMF costs for pursuing the case published?
Thanks, Fae
On 24 October 2015 at 14:31, Michelle Paulson mpaulson@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi All,
Yesterday, a federal district court granted the government's motion to dismiss our Wikimedia v. NSA case. For those of you familiar with procedural rules, the Judge T.S. Ellis III dismissed the case on standing 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 for more information.
-Michelle
Michelle Paulson Legal Director Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 mpaulson@wikimedia.org 415.839.6885 ext. 6608 (Office) 415.882.0495 (Fax)
NOTICE: This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation and for legal/ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer.
publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org