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A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a Wikipedia lawsuit that challenges a U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) program of mass online surveillance, and claims that the government unconstitutionally invades people's privacy rights.

By a 3-0 vote, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, had a legal right to challenge the government's Upstream surveillance program.

The decision could make it easier for people to learn whether authorities have spied on them through Upstream, which involves bulk searches of international communications within the internet's backbone of cables, switches and routers.

Upstream's existence was revealed in leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013.

Lawyers for the Wikipedia publisher and eight other plaintiffs including Amnesty International USA and Human Rights Watch, with more than 1 trillion international communications annually, argued that the surveillance violated their rights to privacy, free expression and association.

The U.S. Department of Justice countered that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had authorized Upstream's review of communications between Americans and foreign "targets."

In October 2015, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Baltimore dismissed the lawsuit, finding a lack of evidence that the NSA, headquartered in Maryland, was conducting surveillance "at full throttle."

Writing for the appeals court panel, however, Circuit Judge Albert Diaz found "nothing speculative" about the Wikimedia Foundation's claims.

Diaz said the NSA interception and copying of communications showed "an invasion of a legally protected interest - the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures."

The foundation could also pursue its First Amendment claim because it had "self-censored" some communications in response to the Upstream surveillance, Diaz said.

By a 2-1 vote, the same panel also ruled the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the NSA's alleged "dragnet" to intercept "substantially all" text-based communications to and from the United States while conducting Upstream surveillance.

Justice Department spokesman Mark Abueg declined to comment.

Patrick Toomey, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said the ruling means Upstream "will finally face badly needed scrutiny" in the courts.

"This is an important victory for the rule of law," he said in a statement. "Our government shouldn't be searching the private communications of innocent people in bulk."

Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers are working on legislation to curtail parts of Upstream. A section of FISA that authorizes the program expires at year end.

The case is Wikimedia Foundation et al v National Security Agency et al, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 15-2560.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Dustin Volz in Washington; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Phil Berlowitz)

WASHINGTON Former CIA Director John Brennan said on Tuesday it became clear last summer that Russia was attempting to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, and that he warned the head of Russia's FSB security service that such interference would hurt U.S. ties.

MANILA Hackers linked with Vietnam's government are likely targeting Philippine state agencies to gather intelligence related to the maritime dispute in the South China Sea, cybersecurity company FireEye said on Thursday.

DUBAI Qatar got into a war of words with some Gulf Arab allies on Wednesday after it said hackers had posted fake remarks by its emir against U.S. foreign policy, but their state-run media reported the comments anyway.

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Wikipedia can pursue NSA surveillance lawsuit: US appeals court - Reuters

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Reverend Al Sharpton thinks that in order to win elections, Democrats must stop trying to get the Archie Bunker vote and instead focus on maximizing the partys minority vote.

During a Friday afternoon MSNBC appearance, Sharpton railed against elected officials and consultants who want Democrats to try and become elephants with donkey skin on, emphasizing that it was pointless to appeal to Archie Bunker voters who support President Donald Trump. Sharpton insisted that these Archie Bunker voters will never cast their ballots for Democrats. He made his remarks a day after Republican Greg Gianforte won his special election for Montanas open House seat by six points even after he allegedly body-slammed a reporter the day before the election.

In a recent interview with BuzzFeed, Sharpton said Hillary Clintons biggest mistake in 2016 was that she did not mobilize in the black community.

You lost Michigan, by what, 15,000, 20,000 votes? You couldve got that if you mobilized two housing projects or three churches, he told the left-wing outlet. Never touched them. So in many ways I think that the whole question of, Oh we gotta reach out to the Appalachian and the blue collar workers and stop the identity politics well, thats one strategy. But what Im saying is that you never worked your own base. You took your base for granted, so its not that you need to go another way, you didnt identify with those in identity politics, thats why you had the lowest turnout you had around blacks in a long time.

Sharpton said though Clinton came to his National Action Network convention, her campaign never engaged us in the campaign.

And I think thats where they did the wrong math in the Clinton campaign. They assumed that well go get all of this because everybody will stay here: young voters, black voters, Latino voters, like Obama, and it didnt happen, he said.

As Democrats plot their electoral strategies for 2018 and 2020, the party is split between those who want to double down on identity politics and those who think Democratsneed to appeal more to working-class white voters.

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Al Sharpton to Dems: No Point Appealing to 'Archie Bunker' Trump Voters - Breitbart News

Union Ridge School eighth-grade students on May 25 demonstrated their crime investigative skills during "Crime Scene Investigation URS."

The unit was part of exploratory classes for the eighth grade at Union Ridge School District 86 in Harwood Heights. Students were given substances to test and verify, said Cathy Lenzini, middle school science teacher.

The unit employed STEAM curriculum principles science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics she said, helping to instill scientific applications to students.

"If they want to be in law enforcement, maybe they want to go into the criminologist part where they can help solve crimes. There's a lot of science in criminology," she said. "These types of activities, they'll remember."

Students used beakers and directed heat to complete experiments. They recorded results as they tracked identification.

"I'm very impressed with the creative exploratory classes that our teachers provide students," said Mike Maguire, Union Ridge School District 86 superintendent. "This CSI class introduces students to the world of forensic science. Hopefully, these types of electives will help guide our students as they begin thinking about future professions."

Konrad Kruczek worked alongside classmate Krystian Szczech.

"It's pretty interesting because you get to think like a criminal," Kruczek said. "You need to know how to do everything, all of the procedures ..."

"You have to be one step ahead of them, smarter," Lenzini said, of the criminal thinking.

Maddi Polley evaluated her assignment up close as she measured.

"I think it's a good way to just learn about what people do in the real world," she said.

Going into the mind of a criminal is, "pretty sick," she said, adding "it breaks my heart a lot because I don't know why people need to be so mean to each other."

Gabby Czernicka and Allison Shuttleworth sat next to each other, using a rack of test tubes. They dissolved powder and observed liquid interaction.

"I think STEM (or STEAM) is useful in daily life," Shuttleworth said.

"We learn a lot in this class," Czernicka said. "It's fun to figure out how detectives use different substances."

Czernicka said she has respect for law enforcement, and the class helped to reinforce that appreciation.

"They are hard-working, a shout out to all of them," Gabby said, to first responders and law enforcement professionals who process crime scenes. "They're overall heroes."

Karie Angell Luc is a freelance photographer and reporter for Pioneer Press.

Excerpt from:
Students explore crime scene investigation at Union Ridge - Chicago Tribune

At the High School, Mrs. Irvings Forensics classes participated in a mock crime scene investigation.

Faculty and staff members participated as suspects, a witness, a judge, a district attorney, and a victim. The students collected evidence, sketched the crime scene, conducted experimental tests on all the evidence, questioned the witness and suspects, and met with a district attorney to get a search warrant for the suspects classrooms. They then used seized evidence to compare to the crime scene evidence. The students then wrote a report over all their findings and served an arrest warrant.

I want to extend a huge thank you to all of the staff members who participated in the forensics crime scene investigation, said Catherine Irving. Suspect Leah Hoy was correctly identified as the perpetrator of the crime by one of the two classes. She was put through a great deal of physical and mental torment as the investigators stayed hot on her trail. Thank you for putting up with them! Thank you to Leah Hoy, Amanda Foster, Courtney Davis, and Vicki McClure for making great suspects and really keeping them on the run as you all seemed guilty during the questioning!

Thank you to Ky Buck for sitting in as District Attorney and speaking to them about the laws of crime scene investigations as well as helping them determine what evidence they can use or not use. Thank you to Phyllis Cody for acting a judge to sign the search warrants for our suspects classrooms. Thank you to Whitney McIntire, Heath Roach, and Jennifer Perdue for helping out as a witness. You helped make them ALL look guilty! Thank you to Tim Gregory for allowing us to use you as a victim. Thank you to all staff members who allowed the investigators to use extra class time to run their laboratory examinations of evidence, Irving said.

In the end, an arrest warrant was issued for Leah Hoy. Accidental or planned, guilt will still need to be determined by the court system.

Follow me on Twitter @SkiatookJournal.

E-mail lindsey.renuard @skiatookjournal.com

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Forensics classes hold mock crime scene investigation - Tulsa World

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Lansing police said a malewas found dead atthe residence on Smith Avenue near Rundle Avenuebut released no other information.

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Lansing police are investigating a death on the 700 block of Smith Ave. Julia Nagy

Lansing police were investigating a death at a house in the 700 block of Smith Avenue on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 in Lansing.(Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)Buy Photo

LANSING - Yellow crime scene tape encloseda front yard on Lansing's south side on Wednesday afternoon as police conducted a death investigation.

Lansing police officials said a malewas found dead atthe residence on Smith Avenue, near Rundle Avenue, but released no other information.

More: Lansing man convicted in death of 8-month-old daughter

More: Woman charged with manslaughter in son's death

A crime scene investigation unit van was parked on the street near the single-story, blue-and-white house on Wednesday afternoon.

No other details were immediately available.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.

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Police conducting death investigation at south Lansing home - Lansing State Journal