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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 12 april 2022
NSO turns to U.S. Supreme Court for immunity in WhatsApp suit

By JOSEF FEDERMAN mixed opinions on sover- number of iPhone users
Associated Press eign immunity over the worldwide, calling NSO's
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Is- years and that it was cru- employees "amoral 21st
raeli spyware maker NSO cial for the Supreme Court century mercenaries."
Group is turning to the U.S. to rule on an issue that has NSO last year also was
Supreme Court as it seeks great national security im- blacklisted by the U.S. Com-
to head off a high-profile plications for governments merce Department, limiting
lawsuit filed by the What- around the world. its access to U.S. technol-
sApp messaging service. "Many nations, includ- ogy. U.S. officials said the
In a filing to the Supreme ing the United States, rely company's products were
Court, NSO said it should on private contractors to complicit in "transnational
be recognized as a for- conduct or support core repression."
eign government agent governmental activities," NSO appears to face a
and therefore be entitled it wrote in the April 6 filing. formidable challenge. For
to immunity under U.S. law "If such contractors can starters, the Supreme Court
limiting lawsuits against for- never seek immunity ... agrees to consider just 1%
eign countries. The request then the United States and or so of the requests put
appeals a pair of earlier other countries may soon before it.
federal court rulings that re- find their military and intel- It could be months before
jected similar arguments by ligence operations disrupt- A logo adorns a wall on a branch of the Israeli NSO Group com- the court decides wheth-
the Israeli company. ed by lawsuits against their pany, near the southern Israeli town of Sapir, Aug. 24, 2021. er to review the case. But
WhatsApp parent Face- agents." Associated Press even if it does, NSO would
book, now called Meta NSO's flagship product, have to convince the court
Platforms Inc., sued NSO in Pegasus, allows operators dissent. WhatsApp says at have already rejected that it is a state agent and
2019 for allegedly targeting to covertly infiltrate a tar- least 100 of the users con- NSO's contrived bid for im- entitled to immunity.
some 1,400 users of its en- get's mobile phone, gain- nected to its lawsuit were munity and we believe Eugene Kontorovich, an
crypted messaging service ing access to messages journalists, rights activists there is no reason for the Israeli-American professor
with highly sophisticated and contacts, the camera and civil society members. Supreme Court to hear at the George Mason Uni-
spyware. It is trying to block and microphone and lo- NSO says it has no control their last-ditch attempt to versity Scalia Law School
NSO from Facebook plat- cation history. It says that over how its clients use the avoid accountability," it and director of its Center
forms and servers and seeks it sells the product only to product and no access said, adding that multiple for the Middle East and In-
unspecified damages. government law enforce- to the data they collect, human rights groups and ternational Law, said it was
Granting sovereign immu- ment agencies to catch though it claims it has safe- tech companies have said a "very interesting" and
nity to NSO would greatly criminals and terrorists and guards in place to prevent granting immunity to spy- "very serious" case. But he
hinder WhatsApp's case. that all sales are approved abuses. Critics say the safe- ware companies "would be said he was skeptical NSO
It also could provide pro- by Israel's Defense Ministry. guards are insufficient. dangerous for the world." would prevail.
tection from a potentially It does not identify its cli- "NSO's spyware invades the The WhatsApp case is "They're a software com-
risky discovery process that ents. rights of citizens, journalists, among a series of legal pany. They create a prod-
could reveal its customers But critics say a number of and human rights activists battles plaguing NSO. Ap- uct that's been licensed to
and technological secrets. clients, including Saudi Ara- around the globe and their ple last year filed a lawsuit foreign governments and
NSO is seeking to have the bia, the United Arab Emir- attacks must be stopped," that it says aims to prevent which governments can
entire case dismissed. ates, Jordan and Poland, WhatsApp said in a state- NSO from breaking into use," he said. "An agent
In its petition, NSO said that have abused the system to ment. products. It claimed Pega- usually is something of a
lower courts have given snoop on critics and stifle "Two United States courts sus had affected a small much higher standard."q

IS supporter found guilty of killing UK lawmaker David Amess

LONDON (AP) — A jury de- actions by saying Amess five years earlier, and that
liberated for just 18 minutes deserved to die as a result Ali tricked his way into
Monday before finding a of voting for airstrikes on meeting Amess by pre-
fervent Islamic State sup- Syria in 2014 and 2015. tending to be one of his
porter guilty of stabbing Ali, a London man with So- constituents.
lawmaker David Amess mali heritage, had denied Amess, 69, had been a
to death a slaying that charges of murder and member of Parliament
shocked the nation and preparing acts of terrorism. since 1983. He was pro-
sparked calls for increased Opening the trial, prosecu- nounced dead at the
police protection for politi- tor Tom Little said the case scene after the stabbing.
cians. was "nothing less than an The prosecutor also said
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was found assassination" carried out that Ali had researched
guilty by London's Central because of a "warped and and planned attacks on
Criminal Court of murder twisted and violent ideol- lawmakers and the Parlia-
and preparing terrorist acts. ogy." "It was a murder car- ment building from at least
Ali stabbed the veteran Brit- ried out by that young man 2019. The research includ-
ish lawmaker to death last who for many years had ed reconnaissance trips In this Friday, Oct. 15, 2021 file photo, an image of murdered Brit-
year while he was meeting been planning just such an targeting work and home ish Conservative lawmaker David Amess is displayed near the
altar in St Peters Catholic Church before a vigil in Leigh-on-Sea,
with voters at a church hall attack and who was, and addresses of two other Essex, England.
in eastern England. is, a committed, fanatical, lawmakers, Mike Freer and Associated Press
Ali, who had spent years radicalized Islamist terror- Cabinet member Michael
researching and planning ist," he said. Gove, he added. often meet directly with lawmaker Jo Cox was shot
potential attacks on law- Little said Ali bought the The slaying of Amess shook the public. It came five and stabbed to death by a
makers, had defended his knife used to attack Amess the nation, as lawmakers years after Labour Party far-right extremist.q