AnonSec NASA hoax (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States of America.
Tracking #

1425682-000, DOJ-AP-2019-002802

1425682-000

Multi Request AnonSec NASA hoax
Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Emma North-Best


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Files mentioning or generated as a result of the 2015 claim by "AnonSec" that NASA flight and radar logs and videos and documents had been hacked, along with a Global Hawk Drone. NASA responded by stating that the footage was already publicly available, and nothing had been hacked. At the time, NASA released a statement saying "Control of our Global Hawk aircraft was not compromised. NASA has no evidence to indicate the alleged hacked data are anything other than already publicly available data. NASA takes cybersecurity very seriously and will continue to fully investigate all of these allegations."

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, AND Magazine, Unicorn Riot, and more. 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 non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and and the journalist non-profit, MuckRock, 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 my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

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,

Emma Best

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

There are eFOIA files available for you to download.

  • E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

There are eFOIA files available for you to download.

  • E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

There are eFOIA files available for you to download.

  • E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

From: Emma North-Best

I am appealing the integrity of the Bureau's search, including but not limited to the basis that it was not reasonably calculated to include communications with NASA which are the most likely responsive documents to exist.

  • E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

This message is to notify you of a new appeal submission to the FOIAonline application. Appeal information is as follows:
* Appeal Tracking Number: DOJ-AP-2019-002802
* Request Tracking Number: 1425682
* Requester Name: Emma Best
* Date Submitted: 02/27/2019
* Appeal Status: Submitted
* Description: FBI appeal

From: Federal Bureau of Investigation

DOJ-AP-2019-002802 has been processed with the following final disposition: Affirmed on Appeal

Files

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  • 02/04/2019

    E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

  • 02/04/2019

    E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

  • 02/05/2019

    E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

  • 02/05/2019

    E293000614616db83c311dfebe67197646e638b92_Q48686_D2195923

  • 05/07/2019

    Best, Emma, AP-2019-002802, FBI - Affirm search