NSO Group: Let Loose the Legal Eagles
August 13, 2021
I was dismayed to read “More Journalists File Legal Complaints after Being Targeted by Pegasus Surveillance Software.” Outrage and finger pointing are obviously not enough. According to the article:
The list of legal challenges against NSO Group continues to mount after 17 additional journalists from seven countries have filed complaints with prosecutors in Paris, France. To date, international media freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and two French/Moroccan journalists have filed cases in court over serious concerns that their governments were spying on them due to their work as journalists, carrying out vital public interest investigations. The latest journalists to file complaints include Sevinc Abassova from Azerbaijan, Szabolcs Panyi and Andras Szabo from Hungary, and others from India, Togo, and Mexico. Among the other complainants are Shubhranshu Choudhary, an RSF correspondent in India, and two RSF Award Winners, Hicham Mansouri from Morocco and Swati Chaturvedi from India.
I am not an attorney. I have enough challenges just being a retired, chubby consultant. Several points seem salient to me:
- NSO Group is essentially the intelware equivalent of the protagonist in Nat Hawthorne’s zippy thriller, The Scarlet Letter.
- The legal process is tough to manage when it involves a single matter in a single jurisdiction. A pride of filings exponentiates the complexities and the likelihood of some intriguing decisions. Say “hello” to high risk litigating.
- The ripple effect of the intelware disclosures is going to intersect with an unrelated security action taken by Apple Computer. The NSO Group matter will raise the stakes for the trillion dollar company everyone once associated with user privacy.
Net net: Excitement ahead. Buckle up.
Stephen E Arnold, August 13, 2021
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