http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/65611/
Ethiopia Claims Immunity in Illegally Wiretapping American Skype Calls
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 :: Staff infoZine
Ethiopia must be held accountable in the United States for an illegal
malware and digital spying attack on an American citizen, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) told a federal appeals court
Monday in a case where a foreign government claims it is immune from
liability for wiretapping a man’s Skype calls.
Washington DC - infoZine - Malicious digital surveillance and malware
attacks against perceived political opponents, dissidents, and
journalists have become all-too-common tactics used by governments
with poor human rights records, such as Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and
Vietnam. When foreign governments carry out these digital attacks on
Americans in their homes, violating our wiretapping and privacy laws,
their victims must be allowed to take them to court, EFF and its
co-counsels said in a filing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit.
EFF, Robins Kaplan LLP, and Guernica 37: International Justice
Chambers represent a Maryland man whose home computer was infected by
state-sponsored malware known as FinSpy. The program recorded his
private Skype calls, monitored his web searches and emails, and
tracked his family’s use of the computer for weeks. Forensic analysis
showed the information was surreptitiously sent to a secret server
located in Ethiopia and controlled by the Ethiopian government. EFF’s
client is an Ethiopian by birth who is a U.S. citizen and has worked
with other members of the Ethiopian diaspora. The courts have allowed
him to use the pseudonym Mr. Kidane to protect himself and his family
from retaliation.
The spying program unleashed on Mr. Kidane was contained in an
attachment to a Microsoft Word document that Mr. Kidane inadvertently
opened. A government agent in Ethiopia planted the malware on the Word
document, but the program to wiretap his conversations resided on his
computer in Maryland and automatically began recording, with no one in
Ethiopia having to pull the trigger.
The Ethiopian government, which hasn’t denied it wiretapped Mr.
Kidane, won dismissal of a 2014 lawsuit after claiming it has immunity
because the malware attack was initiated in Ethiopia and thus outside
the reach of U.S. courts. It has made the absurd assertion that
spyware—marketed to repressive regimes by companies like Gamma
International and Hacking Team—gives countries the ability to invade
Americans’ homes, wiretap their conversations, violate their privacy,
and face no consequences.
“The court’s decision is out of step with the times and completely
ignores how other laws treat computer attacks, allowing a prosecution
or lawsuit to be brought where the attacked computer is. The appeals
court should overturn this ruling and let Mr. Kidane have his day in
court,” said EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn, “Cybersecurity is one
of the most important issues of our time, and when foreign governments
invade Americans’ privacy, just as with foreign-based criminals, our
laws must let victims like Mr. Kidane go to court to hold them
accountable.”
If a foreign state’s agent had placed a recording device in Mr.
Kidane’s home or on his telephone line, Mr. Kidane could indisputably
sue the government in U.S. courts, said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Nate
Cardozo. The fact that Ethiopia used software instead of a person to
launch a wiretap attack against Kidane in no way allows the country to
evade legal liability.
“Today, all governments have to do to illegally spy on people is
purchase the right software,’’ said Cardozo. “The D.C. Circuit should
recognize that the malware in this case took the place of a human spy,
and reinstate Mr. Kidane’s lawsuit.”
“Giving Ethiopia immunity for state-sponsored hacking would strip away
one of the few protections Americans have against cyberattacks by
foreign powers,” said Scott Gilmore, counsel at Guernica 37. “The
invasion of our client’s home, through his computer, could happen to
any of us. We all should have the right to seek justice.”
Received on Tue Oct 25 2016 - 11:16:35 EDT