jcamilobernal/iStock Editorial/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, has filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice for “large-scale search and seizure of internet communications.”
A statement posted to Wikimedia’s blog says that the company is joined by eight other organizations and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union in its lawsuit. “We’re filing suit today on behalf of our readers and editors everywhere,” Wikpedia founder Jimmy Wales said. “Surveillance erodes the original promise of the internet: an open space for collaboration and experimentation, and a place free from fear.”
Wikimedia calls privacy “the bedrock of individual freedom,” calling for the NSA to cease use of “upstream surveillance.”
“By tapping the backbone of the internet, the NSA is straining the backbone of democracy,” Wikimedia Executive Director Lila Tretikov says.
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