MOSCOW, March 10 (RAPSI) – Wikimedia Foundation, nonprofit organization that controls and operates the Wikipedia website, is filing a suit against American National Security Agency (NSA) over the expansive surveillance program which involves the Wikipedia, Wikimedia stated in press-release on Tuesday.

Wikimedia believes that large-scale search and seizure of internet communications commonly known as “upstream” online surveillance conducted by NSA violates the principles of freedom and privacy in the Internet.

Organization claimed that it has sufficient standing in order to sue NSA as “the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures included a slide from a classified NSA presentation that made explicit reference to Wikipedia, using our global trademark”, the press-release reads. According to Wikimedia, this revelation is a clear sign of unlawful targeting against Wikipedia by government employees.

Wikipedia is the world’s largest online encyclopedia with 34 million articles in 288 different languages. Articles are written in collaboration by thousands of users worldwide. According to Wikimedia, “every month, this knowledge is accessed by nearly half a billion people from almost every country on earth”.