The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) working with the Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Samuelson Clinic), has filed suit against various government agencies following a general federal failure to reply to a Freedom Of Information Act request seeking "information concerning the government's use of social-networking websites for investigative purposes on citizens' privacy rights and associated legal protections".
Stated in the suit dated December 1: "Plaintiff seeks the release of records requested from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of Treasury, Central Intelligence Agency, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (collectively “Defendants”) concerning the use of social-networking websites as investigative, surveillance, and data collection tools."
EFF is "a donor-supported membership organization that works to inform policymakers and the public about civil liberties issues related to technology, and to act as a defender of those liberties."
A December 1 EFF Press Release decries "Government Agencies Withholding Information on Data-Gathering from Facebook, Twitter, and Other Online Communities:
"Millions of people use social networking sites like Facebook every day, disclosing lots of information about their private lives," said James Tucker, a student working with EFF through the Samuelson Clinic. "As Congress debates new privacy laws covering sites like Facebook, lawmakers and voters alike need to know how the government is already using this data and what is at stake."
The suit cites various examples wherein agencies have used social networking sites as a resource for cybersurveillance operations.
"Internet users deserve to know what information is collected, under what circumstances, and who has access to it," said Shane Witnov, a law student also working on the case. "These agencies need to abide by the law and release their records on social networking surveillance."
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