On 9/22/15, coderman <coderman@gmail.com> wrote:
most interesting reply ...
less interesting reply, but a more interesting response on my part: FBI claiming privacy interest to refuse ALL of my FOIA regarding the Sklyarov / Elcomsoft incident years back: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/freedmitry-21209/ this is my first attempt to argue compelling public interest against a privacy exemption, it is as follows; Please recognize the public interest in this request for responsive records as follows: First and foremost, extensive media attention during this period was generated due to the intersection of "hacking" and "reverse engineering" combined with the DMCA provisions deeming some technologies illegal at interest to the information technology industry as a whole. This reason alone is sufficient and compelling justification for transparency in a watershed case, however, I shall continue. Second, this case involved not a US citizen, but a foreign national. As has recently been scoured in the technical press, Wassenar with its incumbent BIS obligations has brought discussion of the risks foreigners face visiting the EU and US, in addition to US citizens abroad who now find themselves subject to severe technical controls due to their industry participation. I feel that surely this must provide beyond sufficient justification for public interest in documents responsive to this request, yet I shall continue to exhaust the relevant perspectives in my quiver of inquiry. Thus thirdly, the conference venue, DEF CON security conference, itself of notoriety and high esteem in the technical community, was the operating domain for the closing moves of this investigation. The logistics and technical considerations for operating in this domain thus also compounds the public interest in the activity for which the records responsive to this request have been requested. Fourthly, and there is a fourthly for sure, the activities undertaken by the agency were at risk of alienating a talent pool the Bureau has increasingly courted and pursued for their invaluable skills in digital forensic analysis, reverse engineering, and information security. Balancing actions before a critical group who also interacts frequently with the agency, and from whom the Bureau itself draws professional talent, amplifies the interest and relevance of this inquiry, and the need for unrestrained transparency when identifying documents responsive to this request. Lastly and finally, yet not to diminish the inherent privacy rights afforded to all earth humans, inalienable, with justice for all, the privacy rights which this agency has cited in justification for limiting the documents responsive to this request, please note that the privacy exemptions provided by law are specific and limited to situations where there is a compelling personal privacy interest. The agency has not provided any compelling privacy interest on behalf of the fine Mr. Sklyarov, and his foreign status removes the common privacy concerns of an individual within a domestic community at issue in responsive documents. It is fully reasonable, per Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, that the FBI may provide documents detailing "what they were up to" in this investigation, without undue burden on the privacy rights of a foreign citizen briefly visiting to attend a public conference in the United States. Please do recognize and acquiescence to the public interest so broadly in view. Best regards,