The Wikimedia Foundation believes it can win its case against the U.S. National Security Agency because it has evidence that mass surveillance had caused it harm, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales said on Wednesday.
Wales also said he thought the lawsuit, brought Tuesday by Wikimedia and rights groups, would end up in the U.S. Supreme Court because either side is likely to appeal any ruling against it.
A U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
In the legal challenge to the spy agency, Wikimedia and eight other groups said one of the NSA’s mass surveillance programs violates privacy rights and makes people worldwide less likely to share sensitive information.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 rejected another challenge to NSA surveillance of email and other communications, ruling that a similar coalition of plaintiffs did not prove they had been spied upon or would be. The ruling, however, was made just three months before documents made public by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed extensive U.S. spying.
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