Defendants' Motion To Dismiss.pdf

Defendants, including the National Security Agency (NSA), seek to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Wikimedia Foundation and others (Plaintiffs) alleging illegal surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The lawsuit challenges the NSA's "upstream collection" under Section 702, which involves intercepting communications as they transit the United States.

Defendants argue that Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged that they have been injured by the interception, copying, and review of their online communications in the upstream collection process. They assert that Plaintiffs have not demonstrated that their communications were targeted or intercepted, and that any alleged injury is too speculative to confer standing.

Key points:
- Plaintiffs have not shown that upstream collection involves intercepting substantially all international online communications transiting the U.S.
- The volume and global distribution of Wikimedia's communications do not establish that any of Plaintiffs' communications were intercepted, copied, or reviewed.
- Plaintiffs have not alleged any concrete injury from the claimed interception, copying, and review of their online communications.
- Plaintiffs' allegations that their communications are retained, read, and disseminated by the NSA as part of the upstream surveillance process are insufficient to establish standing.
- Plaintiffs' claims that upstream collection undermines their ability to conduct their work also fail to establish an injury sufficient to confer standing.

Defendants conclude that Plaintiffs' claims should be dismissed for lack of standing.