Anonymous + general hacktivists 2009-2018 (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)

Submitted on Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 17:15
Submitted by user: Anonymous
Submitted values are:

Select the DHS component you wish to submit your request to: : United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Title:
First Name: Emma
Middle Initial:
Last Name: Best
Suffix:
Email Address: requests@muckrock.com
Country: United States
Address 1: MuckRock News DEPT MR 74393
Address 2: 411A Highland Ave
City: Somerville
State: Massachusetts
Zip Code: 02144
Telephone Number:
Fax Number:
Are you requesting records on yourself? No
If yes, you must check the perjury statement:
By initialing here you are providing your electronic signature.:
Please describe the records you are seeking as clearly and precisely as
possible:
To Whom It May Concern:

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

Documents mentioning or relating to Anonymous (the hacker
movement/collective, see below) or hacktivism (defined as hacking as a form
of protest and/or activism) generated between 1 January 2009 and 1 January
2019, including but not limited to:

* Internal reports, bulletins, warnings and alerts relating to Anonymous or
hacktivism
* Reports from the appropriate IT (Information Technology) or computer
offices regarding possible cyber attacks by Anonymous or other hacktivists
* Reports, bulletins, warnings and alerts relating to or mentioning Anonymous
or hacktivism sent to or received from any federal law enforcement or
intelligence agencies or any fusion center
* Incident reports investigating possible hacking activity falling within the
office's jurisdiction and allegedly carried out by members of Anonymous or
other hacktivist groups
* Materials generated as a result of any suspected or actual compromise,
breach or "dox" (revealing of personal or private information) by Anonymous
or other hacktivists

Anonymous has been described by government agencies as a non-hierarchical
hacktivist collective, Anonymous uses hacking (and arguably cracking)
techniques to register political protest in campaigns known as “#ops.”
Best known for their distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks, past
activities have included attacks against the Church of Scientology; Visa,
Paypal, and others who withdrew their services from WikiLeaks’ Julian
Assange after that group began releasing war documents; #OpTunisia and others
purporting to support the Arab Spring; and a campaign that brought down the
website of the Westboro Baptist Church. #Ops are usually marked with the
release of a video of a reader in a Guy Fawkes mask using a computer
generated voice. See attached for additional background information.

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

Attachments:

https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/TheEmmaBest/71028/A-0010-NCCIC-BULLETIN.pdf
https://cdn.muckrock.com/outbound_composer_attachments/TheEmmaBest/71028/Fee20category20and20search20parameters.pdf
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I am willing to pay fees for this request up to the amount of: $: 1
Select from the list below: A representative of the news media seeking
information as part of a news gathering effort and not for commercial use.
I request a waiver of all fees for this request.: I request a waiver of all
fees for this request.
Please provide an explanation for your request for a fee waiver:
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 Gizmodo,
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.

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