WASHINGTON: The nonprofit foundation that runs the free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia is taking legal action against the US National Security Agency and Department of Justice for its mass surveillance of internet traffic.
"Surveillance erodes the original promise of the internet: an open space for collaboration and experimentation, and a place free from fear," Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in a statement Tuesday.
The Wikimedia Foundation's lawsuit alleges that the bulk collection of internet data flowing across networks in the United States is a violation of the constitutional rights to privacy and free speech.
The lawsuit challenges a 2008 amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which allows the "incidental" collection of communications by US citizens if it is obtained while targeting communications of a non-US citizen believed to be overseas.
The NSA is barred from deliberately targeting Americans' communications without a warrant.
The NSA's broad surveillance programmes were revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden. Defenders say it is needed to help law enforcement track down suspected terrorists.
Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation. Other parties to the action include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers. – dpa
- See more at: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1351378#sthash.DNZiBHhQ.dpuf
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