The Wikimedia Foundation Petition on the NSA Surveillance Program Denied



The U.S. Supreme Court has denied the Wikimedia Foundation’s petition for review of its legal challenge to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) “Upstream” surveillance program. Under this program, the NSA systematically searches the contents of internet traffic entering and leaving the United States, including Americans’ private emails, messages, and web communications. The Supreme Court’s denial leaves in place a divided ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which dismissed Wikimedia’s case based on the government’s assertion of the “state secrets privilege.”

According to Wikimedia's legal director, James Buatti, “The Supreme Court’s refusal to grant our petition strikes a blow against an individual’s right to privacy and freedom of expression — two cornerstones of our society and the building blocks of Wikipedia,” He added that the foundation will continue to champion everyone's right to free knowledge “

In its petition, the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia free knowledge projects, argued that its challenge should be allowed to proceed, despite the government’s sweeping invocation of “state secrets.” This privilege allows the government to withhold information in legal proceedings if disclosure would harm national security. Wikimedia sought to move forward in the case based on the wealth of public information about the breadth and operation of Upstream surveillance, including numerous official disclosures by the government itself. 

Upstream surveillance is conducted under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which permits the government to intercept Americans’ international communications without a warrant, so long as it is targeting individuals located outside the U.S. for foreign intelligence purposes. Section 702 will expire later this year unless it is reauthorized by Congress.

In the course of this surveillance, both U.S. residents and individuals located outside the U.S. are impacted. The NSA copies and combs through vast amounts of internet traffic, including private data showing what millions of people around the world are browsing online, from communications with friends and family to reading and editing knowledge on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. This government surveillance has had a measurable chilling effect on Wikipedia users, with research documenting a drop in traffic to Wikipedia articles on sensitive topics, following public revelations about the NSA’s mass surveillance in 2013. 

The Wikimedia Foundation, which filed the case alongside eight other plaintiffs, sued the NSA in 2015 to protect the rights of Wikipedia readers, editors, and internet users globally. 


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