LulzSec
Tracking # |
1369098-000 1369098 DOJ-AP-2017-003706, |
Submitted | Feb. 15, 2017 |
Due | July 11, 2017 |
Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Michael Best
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
Records relating to Lulz Security AKA LulzSec, was a black hat computer hacking group that claimed responsibility for several high profile attacks, including the compromise of user accounts from Sony Pictures in 2011. The group also claimed responsibility for taking the CIA website offline. LulzSec claimed to have hacked local InfraGard chapter sites, a non-profit organization affiliated with the FBI. On 9 June, LulzSec sent an email to the administrators of the British National Health Service, informing them of a security vulnerability discovered in NHS systems. LulzSec stated that they did not intend to exploit this vulnerability, saying in the email that "We mean you no harm and only want to help you fix your tech issues." On 13 June, LulzSec released the e-mails and passwords of a number of users of senate.gov, the website of the United States Senate. The information released also included the root directory of parts of the website. LulzSec stated, "This is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data from senate.gov — is this an act of war, gentlemen? Problem?" referencing a recent statement by the Pentagon that some cyberattacks could be considered an act of war. No highly sensitive information appears in the release. On 2 December, an offshoot of LulzSec calling itself LulzSec Portugal, attacked several sites related to the government of Portugal. The websites for the Bank of Portugal, the Assembly of the Republic, and the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Development all became unavailable for a few hours.
Many aspects of the government's investigation into LulzSec have been publicly documented, and so no expectation of privacy exists for most of the subjects of the investigations. As a group, no expectation of privacy exists for the purposes of FOIA and b6.
Please conduct a search of the Central Records System, including but not limited to the ELSUR Records System, the Microphone Surveillance (MISUR) Indices, the Physical Surveillance (FISUR) Indices, and the Technical Surveillance (TESUR) Indices, for both main-file records and cross-reference records for all relevant names, individuals, agencies and companies. If any potentially responsive records have been destroyed and/or transferred to NARA, then I request copies of the destruction or transfer slips as well as any other documentation relating to, mentioning or describing said transfer or destruction, to include but not be limited to confirmation that the Bureau has no other copies of said records (as the Bureau has posted copies of records that it previously said were transferred to NARA such as the Tokyo Rose file).
I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure and have an open arrangement with each. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through the non-profit Internet Archive, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance. Additionally, case law states that “proof of the ability to disseminate the released information to a broad cross-section of the public is not required.” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Dep’t of Justice, 365 F.3d 1108, 1126 (D.C. Cir. 2004); see Carney v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 19 F.3d 807, 814-15 (2d Cir. 1994). Further, courts have held that "qualified because it also had “firm” plans to “publish a number of . . . ‘document sets’” concerning United States foreign and national security policy." Under this criteria, as well, I qualify as a member of the news media. Additionally, courts have held that the news media status "focuses on the nature of the requester, not its request. The provision requires that the request be “made by” a representative of the news media. Id. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). A newspaper reporter, for example, is a representative of the news media regardless of how much interest there is in the story for which he or she is requesting information." As such, the details of the request itself are moot for the purposes of determining the appropriate fee category. As such, my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available and I therefore request that fees be waived. Per DOJ FOIA guidance, "a requester should be granted a fee waiver if the requested information (1) sheds light on the activities and operations of the government; (2) is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of those operations and activities; and (3) is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester." As this FOIA meets all of those requirements (see above), a fee waiver is warranted.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Michael Best
From: FOIPARequest
Dear Mr. Best,
The FBI has received your Freedom of Information/Privacy Act (FOIPA) request and it will be forwarded to Initial Processing for review. Your request will be processed under the provisions of FOIPA and a response will be mailed to you at a later date.
Requests for fee waivers and expedited processing will be addressed once your request has been assigned an FOIPA request number. You will receive written notification of the FBI’s decision.
Please be advised, beginning Wednesday, March 1, 2017, you will no longer be able to submit FOIPA requests via email. On this date, FOIPARequest@ic.fbi.gov<mailto:FOIPARequest@ic.fbi.gov> will permanently be taken offline and requests will need to be submitted using the FBI’s electronic FOIPA portal at https://efoia.fbi.gov, after development and testing for two years. With this full implementation, eFOIPA will provide the FBI with an automated process for the receipt and opening of requests, replacing the current manual process and substantially reducing the time it takes to receive and open each electronic request received. Given the FBI's high volume of requests, this will significantly increase efficiency.
The terms of service for the site will be modified to allow the uploading of attachments, to remove the limitation on the number of requests received each day by the application, to remove limitation on the number of requests which may be submitted by an individual per day, and increase availability to seven days a week-24 hours a day.
The eFOIPA system will allow requests of all types – e.g.; Privacy Act, deceased individuals, policies/procedures, events, organizations, etc. Requesters will:
• Receive digital confirmation directly on their email account.
• No longer have to wait for responses to be received using standard mail.
• View transmitted responses and releases from the convenience of their smart phone or tablet.
The FBI’s eFOIPA portal was designed and developed to be the FBI’s primary means for receiving FOIA and Privacy Act requests.
Should you have questions about preparing or submitting your request using this new service, you may email foipaquestions@ic.fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@ic.fbi.gov> or contact the Public Information Officer directly at 540-868-4593. Alternatively, you may submit your request using fax or standard mail.
Information regarding the FOIPA is available at http://www.fbi.gov<http://www.fbi.gov>/ or http://www.fbi.gov/foia/<http://www.fbi.goiv/foia/>. If you require additional assistance please contact the Public Information Officer.
Thank you,
Leanna Ramsey
Public Information Officer
Record/Information Dissemination Section (RIDS) FBI-Records Management Division
170 Marcel Drive, Winchester, VA 22602-4843
Direct: (540) 868-4593
Fax: (540) 868-4391/4997
Questions E-mail: foipaquestions@ic.fbi.gov<mailto:foipaquestions@ic.fbi.gov>
PLEASE REPLY DIRECTLY TO FOIPAREQUEST@IC.FBI.GOV
Do you have further questions about the FOI/PA process? Visit us at http://www.fbi.gov/foia
Please check the status of your request online at https://vault.fbi.gov/fdps-1/@@search-fdps. Status updates are performed on a weekly basis.
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~WRD246
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 15, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
A copy of documents responsive to the request.
From: Michael Best
I am appealing the integrity of the search as no search was performed with the parameters provided. Further, I am appealing the decision to not post these documents to the FBI website in compliance with the three request rule. These records were previously released to Alexa O'Brien as pre-processed records, meaning that this is at least the third time these records have been requested.
From: OIP-NoReply@usdoj.gov
04/25/2017 04:32 PM FOIA Request: DOJ-AP-2017-003706
From: OIP-NoReply@usdoj.gov
DOJ-AP-2017-003706 has been processed with the following final disposition: Completely reversed/remanded.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 15, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #1369098-000, DOJ-AP-2017-003706.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 15, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #1369098-000, DOJ-AP-2017-003706.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 15, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #1369098-000, DOJ-AP-2017-003706.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 15, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #1369098-000, DOJ-AP-2017-003706.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
A letter stating that the request appeal has been received and is being processed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following request, copied below. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following request, copied below. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
A letter stating the request for reduced or waived fees has been rejected.
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Fee Waiver Rejected
From: Federal Bureau of Investigation
A letter stating the requester must agree to or prepay assessed or estimated fees in order for the agency to continue processing the request.
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Payment Required
From: Emma North-Best
How large would the file be if we reduced the scope to exclude legal filings?
From: Emma North-Best
I agree to pay fees associated with this request.
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