Spyware attack against WhatsApp: NSO Group wants new trial
Sentenced to pay a fine of 167 million US dollars, Pegasus manufacturer NSO Group files a motion to dismiss or reargue the case.
(Image: T. Schneider/Shutterstock.com)
The Israeli tech company NSO Group Technologies, which was ordered to pay WhatsApp just over 167 million US dollars in damages at the beginning of May, wants the penalty imposed to be reduced or the proceedings to be rescheduled. Last week, the manufacturer of the monitoring software “Pegasus” filed a corresponding motion with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in Oakland (Case No. 19-CV-07123).
The damages awarded to WhatsApp in the amount of USD 167,254,000 exceed the damages claimed by the messenger service in the proceedings in the amount of USD 444,719 by “slightly more than 376 times”, NSO Group stated in the motion. The jury's award thus “egregiously violates the procedural limitations on the amount of punitive damages.” NSO Group characterized the number of damages awarded as “unconstitutionally excessive”; the verdict “clearly reflects the jury's consideration of legally impermissible factors.” “The Ninth Circuit has 'limited damages to a 4-to-1 ratio when substantial economic loss has resulted from conduct that is not particularly egregious,' which is the case here,” NSO Group argues.
The arbitration award is also “unlawful because it reflects an impermissible desire to bankrupt NSO out of general hostility towards its business activities”. The amount of damages awarded “far exceeds NSO's ability to pay” and reflects “an improper interest in punishing NSO”, according to the motion. The NSO Group had already argued during the court proceedings that it was in a difficult financial situation.
Protracted proceedings
The legal dispute has been in the courts for several years. In a lawsuit filed in October 2019, the messenger service WhatsApp, which belongs to the Meta Group, accused NSO Group of violating various laws when installing the Pegasus spy software. In early 2019, NSO Group allegedly illegally accessed WhatsApp servers and thereby enabled the surveillance of around 1,400 people, including journalists and human rights activists. NSO Group argued that it works on behalf of unnamed foreign governments and that the Pegasus software supports law enforcement agencies and intelligence services in fighting crime and protecting national security and is intended to help catch terrorists, paedophiles and serious criminals.
In 2020 , a judge rejected NSO Group's application for a form of immunity. The Israeli company appealed against this decision. However, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States, based in San Francisco and mentioned above, upheld the decision in 2021. At the beginning of 2023, the Supreme Court judges finally rejected NSO Group's appeal. In this appeal, the company had argued that it was immune from suit because it had acted as an agent for unidentified foreign governments when installing the spyware. In fact, numerous governments around the world have used Pegasus spyware for political surveillance in recent years.
The case eventually landed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. At the end of February 2024, the responsible judge ruled that NSO Group must hand over the source code of the Pegasus spyware. Shortly before the turn of the year, the court finally granted WhatsApp's request. At the beginning of May, a jury finally awarded the messenger from the US company Meta more than 167 million US dollars in damages.
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Following NSO's current motion to dismiss or rearrange the case, a WhatsApp spokeswoman told the US tech portal TechCrunch that WhatsApp will continue to pursue the case. “For the past six years, NSO has tried to evade responsibility at every opportunity. This is another expected attempt to claim impunity in response to a clear indication from the jury of US citizens who decided to punish NSO for its illegal attack on a US company and its users in 2019,” said Margarita Franklin. “We will respond to the court as we continue to seek a permanent injunction against NSO to prevent this spyware company from ever targeting WhatsApp and our users again.”
(akn)
