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New York/New Delhi: The Pegasus genie, which created an uproar over the issue of spying on more than 1400 people including heads of countries, opposition leaders, journalists, judges, activists, has once again come out. Judge Phyllis Hamilton of the District Court in California, USA, has convicted NSO Group of spying on 1400 WhatsApp users, including more than 300 Indians, through Pegasus spyware. With this, social media platform WhatsApp has achieved a legal victory against an Israeli company. Meanwhile, when the case against Israeli company NSO Group on the Pegasus issue is going on in the Supreme Court of India, the US court’s decision is likely to have an impact in India.
For the first time in the ongoing dispute between WhatsApp and Pegasus in the US, US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California has ruled in favor of Meta. The verdict found Israeli spyware company NSO Group guilty of illegally installing spyware on WhatsApp to spy on people.
Judge Phyllis Hamilton said NSO Group violated the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and WhatsApp’s own terms of service. Charges have been framed against NSO Group in this case. The company has been accused of hacking and breach of contract. Now the court will announce fine on Israel’s NSO Group. The case is being heard only to determine damages, Judge Phyllis Hamilton said. He said that NSO Group created obstacles in the legal process, as it did not provide the source code of the spyware to WhatsApp. When this code was ordered to be given by the beginning of 2024. Instead the company only provided the codes in Israel and limited its review to Israeli citizens, which the judge called ‘completely impractical’.
WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart said the decision was a victory for privacy. We fought for five years to prove this case, because we believe that spying companies cannot escape responsibility for their illegal actions. Unlawful monitoring of its users will not be recorded and WhatsApp will always strive to protect people’s privacy. On the other hand, NSO Group is believed to have argued in the US court that their Pegasus spyware is helping law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies in the fight against crimes across the world.
With the decision on Pegasus dispute coming in the American court, this issue has arisen in India also. Congress has cornered the Central Government on the issue of spying on 300 people in India. Congress leader Randeep Surjewal, in a post on Twitter, said the Pegasus spyware verdict proves that 300 WhatsApp numbers of Indians were targeted in an illegal spyware racket. The US court’s decision gives strength to the allegations that 300 people were spied on in India. Modi government can no longer hide. He will have to answer.
A report in India in 2021 claimed that 300 people, including Union ministers, opposition leaders, senior government officials, journalists, human rights activists, political dissidents and politicians, were spied on by the Pegasus spyware. This report created a huge uproar in India. However, the government denied the allegations and said it was not involved in any kind of spying.
On the other hand, there were several petitions in the Supreme Court to investigate allegations of spying on citizens in India. In 2021, the Supreme Court formed a special committee of technology experts to investigate these allegations. Although the committee did not find any conclusive evidence of the use of spyware after examining the phones of 29 complainants, the committee said that the central government did not provide them adequate cooperation in the investigation. The committee’s report was sealed and submitted to the Supreme Court. It has not been announced since then.
– What is the matter of espionage in the whole world?
Social media platform WhatsApp had filed a case against Israeli company NSO Group in 2019, demanding a ban and compensation. The company had accused NSO Group of infiltrating WhatsApp’s servers to install Pegasus spyware on victims’ devices six months ago. According to this case, NSO Group spied on about 1400 people across the world through this intrusion.
Congress leader Surjewal questions Center and Supreme
Who were the two Union ministers and three opposition leaders among the 300 people of India?
Who were two Union ministers, three opposition leaders, constitutional officers, journalists, activists, businessmen among the 300 people spied on by the Indian government through Pegasus spyware? What information did the BJP government and agencies get? How was it used, misused and what were the consequences? Will there be appropriate criminal cases against current government leaders or government officials and NSOs? Surjewal also asked the Supreme Court whether the Supreme Court will pay attention to the US Court’s decision in the Meta vs NSO case? Will the Supreme Court announce the report of the Technology Expert Committee on Pegasus spyware in 2021-22? Will the Supreme Court take into account the US court’s decision and investigate further? Will the Supreme Court now ask Meta to hand over 300 names to serve justice in the Pegasus case?
