Don’t Shield Foreign Spyware Company from Human Rights Accountability in U.S. Court, Rights Group Says
Don’t Shield Foreign Spyware Company from Human Rights Accountability in U.S. Court, Rights Group Says
Legal intern Danya Hajjaji was the lead author of this post.EFF filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit supporting a group of journalists in their lawsuit against Israeli spyware company NSO Group. In our amicus brief backing the plaintiffs’ appeal, we argued that...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit supporting a group of journalists in their lawsuit against Israeli spyware company NSO Group. In our amicus brief backing the plaintiffs’ appeal, we argued that victims of human rights abuses enabled by powerful surveillance technologies must be able to seek redress through U.S. courts against both foreign and domestic corporations.
NSO Group notoriously manufactures “Pegasus” spyware, which enables full remote control of a target’s smartphone. Pegasus attacks are stealthy and sophisticated: the spyware embeds itself into phones without an owner having to click anything (such as an email or text message). A Pegasus-infected phone allows government operatives to intercept personal data on a device as well as cloud-based data connected to the device.
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The U.S. government has endorsed the Guiding Principles as applied to U.S. companies selling surveillance technologies to foreign governments, but also sought to address the issue of spyware facilitating state-sponsored human rights violations. In 2021, for example, the Biden Administration recognized NSO Group as engaging in such practices by placing it on a list of entities prohibited from receiving U.S. exports of hardware or software.
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Or domestic?
As a legal layman I would say that domestic companies aren't shielded anyway from human rights accountability.
There's literally hundreds, maybe thousands of corporations directly supporting the genocide in palestine. I won't hold my breath for their prosecution.
In theory they are subject to the US law... But if they support israel, US judiciary or prosecutors or regulators won't do shit.
In fact our political leadership will provide cover for Israel and supply them with tools of genocide.