Technologists File Amicus Brief in Support of Wikimedia in ‘Upstream’ Surveillance Appeal

A group of twenty-two networking experts and technologists filed an amicus brief on July 8, 2020 in support of Wikimedia for an appeal in the Fourth Circuit in the case of Wikimedia v. NSA.

Wikimedia, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, filed a lawsuit to seek standing to challenge the collection of its information by the National Security Agency (NSA) as part of the government’s ‘Upstream’ surveillance program.

The amici, made up of computer scientists, network engineers, professors and Internet networking experts concluded that the district court erred in its determination that the government could have operated its surveillance program without collecting Wikimedia’s communications. The brief analyzes the claims and opinions presented by the government’s technical expert and determines that the government’s position as adopted by the district court lacks a basis in both Internet technology and engineering.

You can read the full amicus brief here.

Munger, Tolles & Olson attorney Jonathan Blavin developed the amicus brief on behalf of the group of experts.