Cybersecurity
Facebook Joined by Human Rights Groups to Fight Spyware Maker
- Filing of brief follows similar move by technology giants
- NSO Group’s product can secretly access phone’s contents
Facebook’s WhatsApp app
Photographer: Roy Liu/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A coalition of human rights and press freedom groups have filed a brief supporting Facebook Inc.’s lawsuit against the Israeli surveillance technology company NSO Group, arguing that the “very core of the principles that America represents” are at stake in the case.
Facebook last year initiated the lawsuit against NSO Group, accusing the company of reverse-engineering WhatsApp and using the popular chat service to send spyware to the devices of approximately 1,400 people, including attorneys, journalists, human rights activists, government officials and others. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014.