The case is over:
A jury has awarded WhatsApp $167 million in punitive damages in a case the company brought against Israel-based NSO Group for exploiting a software vulnerability that hijacked the phones of thousands of users.
I’m sure it’ll be appealed. Everything always is.
John Levine • May 13, 2025 3:24 PM
I agree the $167M is not real money, for the simple reason that NSO is unlikely to have assets in the US that the court can collect. They’re an Israeli company with deep government connections, so it is extremely unlikely that a judgement could be enforced against them in Israel.
Little Birdy in a Tree • May 13, 2025 5:00 PM
One word: Theater!
I am a little Birdy in a Tree and even I know that NSO’s been and still is covertly supplying a lot of “code” to several Intel and LE Agencies Around the World, including the US Government funded ones.
How hard is it for any past “customer” of NSO, like for instance Palantir, to acquire a solution from NSO Group, and “adjust” the code for the use in USA, on USA citizens – who paid for it all. The most hurtful realization for any US Citizen is the moment when you realize that you, yourself, are actually financing your own government to spy the fck out of you and all other US Citizens. Think of the Children, and other Eye-Smearing lines.
A government employee who knows a lot about the US Government spying on its own population once said; “don’t think about it too much – it’s too depressing, just ignore it, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway.” I personally know of several instances, and have evidence thereof, where the Government Employees have used and abused the position they have in the government, and the tools that they have at their disposal, to go after innocent citizens for their personal reasons (jealousy, envy, revenge, etc.,etc.). There is NO democracy in the united states of merca. You can’t polish a turd!
lurker • May 13, 2025 8:00 PM
Good job I wasn’t on that jury. I would have fined Whatsapp $167M for selling software with a hole big enough for foreign spies to tramp thru …
finagle • May 14, 2025 6:01 AM
So now the legal niceties are all settled, and the fine words have done what? How does this help stop NSO (or their successors) and their customers attacking anyone they choose? Well anyone who uses a smartphone.
I’m not seeing any buttered parsnips here.
How does this advance the underlying human rights problem that NSO and all their customers pose?
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Clive Robinson • May 13, 2025 10:03 AM
With regards,
Not quite, but yeh it has to do with business indicators.
Firstly that $167 million is not “real money” nor is the $444 million. And often delaying paying it for as long as possible earns no real penalty, and can get it reduced by a lot, then of course is the fact you can often claim it back from the Government in one of several ways.
One technique is to “plan ahead” on the assumption that at some point you are going to get hit by litigation of some kind.
You can create an “operating only” company that in effect owns nothing it “rents/leases” equipment etc. IP is put into the hands of other “financial entities” in return for operating capital. Employees are in effect “contractors” or “gig workers” who can be terminated immediately without recompense.
This is how many “Mobile Phone Service Providers” work, as do quite a few software companies.
When the plug gets pulled there is “no value” as it’s all been moved sidewards into other supposadly unrelated companies, so “the cupboard is bare”.
Any non prime Investors will have come via a VC thus that blocks quite a bit of legislation kick back. And all the investment will have gone out on leases rents and loan repayments.
Theres a lot more you can be said but the chances of Meta getting a sniff of that $0.6billion is low.
The NSO primes including VCs will walk away and basically start again with the same IP etc under a different name…
But till then the headlines will look good.