Israeli cyber firm NSO employees sue Facebook for blocking private accounts “The idea that personal data was searched for and used is very disturbing to us.”.
Israeli cyber firm NSO employees sue Facebook
for blocking private accounts
“Blocking our private accounts is a hurtful and unjust move
by Facebook,” the statement said. “The idea that personal data was searched for
and used is very disturbing to us.”
By REUTERS NOVEMBER 26, 2019 20:43
A group of employees from Israeli
surveillance firm NSO Group filed a lawsuit against Facebook Inc on
Tuesday, saying the social media giant had unfairly blocked their private
accounts when it sued NSO last month.
Messaging service WhatsApp, which
is owned by Facebook, had accused NSO in its own legal action of helping government
spies to break into the phones of roughly 1,400 users across four continents in
a hacking spree whose targets included diplomats, political dissidents,
journalists and senior government officials.
The NSO employees said their
Facebook and Instagram accounts and also those of former workers and family
members had been blocked. They petitioned the Tel Aviv District Court to order
Facebook to unblock the accounts, which they claim was done abruptly and
without notice.
"In October we filed a legal
complaint which attributed a sophisticated cyber attack to the NSO Group and
its employees that was directed at WhatsApp and its users in violation of our
terms of service and U.S. law. Such actions warranted disabling relevant
accounts and continue to be necessary for security reasons, including
preventing additional attacks," a Facebook Spokesperson commented.
In their statement, the NSO
employees said Facebook had imposed a “collective punishment” by choosing to
block their private accounts due to the legal process Facebook is conducting
against NSO. They also said their lawsuit came only after they made repeated
requests to Facebook that went unanswered.
“Blocking our private accounts is
a hurtful and unjust move by Facebook,” the statement said. “The idea that
personal data was searched for and used is very disturbing to us.”
The employees said they would
continue to “help governments around the world prevent crime and terrorism
through the technology we are developing”.
WhatsApp accused NSO of
facilitating government hacking sprees in 20 countries. Mexico, the United Arab
Emirates and Bahrain were the only countries identified.
NSO, founded in 2009, denies the
allegations.
Speaking at a technology
conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, its president, Shiri Dolev, defended her
company, saying NSO technologies made the world safer. Dolev also said she
wished NSO could talk openly about the role it plays in helping law enforcement
agencies catch terrorists.
“Terrorists and criminals use the
social platforms and apps we all use every day...,” she said.
Dolev added that NSO does not
operate the technology nor hack phones. “We develop the technology which we
sell exclusively to government intelligence agencies,” she said.
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