Occupy Philadelphia protester sues for records of government spying
Lawyers for an Occupy Philadelphia activist have sued the National Security Agency and the CIA in federal court for records of any spying the agencies may have conducted on the group during the 2011 protests.
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Lawyers for an Occupy Philadelphia activist have sued the National Security Agency and the CIA in federal court for records of any spying the agencies may have conducted on the group during the 2011 protests.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, cites media reports that Occupy Wall Street protesters were subject to government surveillance.
Dustin Slaughter, an online journalist who participated in Occupy Philadelphia, filed Freedom of Information Act requests in December with both the NSA and CIA for records involving the Philadelphia protesters.
In January, the NSA responded that "the existence or nonexistence of the materials you request is currently and properly classified matter," according to the suit.
Slaughter appealed the decision in March, but the NSA has yet to respond to the appeal, the suit says.
Also in January, the CIA declined Slaughter's records request.
Slaughter appealed in March, and the CIA declined to process Slaughter's appeal.
Slaughter's attorneys argue that the NSA and CIA have wrongly withheld the records being requested and that the court should compel the agencies to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.
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