"Thai court dismisses activist’s closely watched lawsuit against spyware maker", 21 Nov 2024

A Thai civil court on Thursday dismissed a high-profile lawsuit filed by a prominent Thai activist who was allegedly targeted with powerful spyware manufactured by the NSO Group.

The activist, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, sued the surveillance technology company for allegedly “failing to prevent him” from being targeted with spyware, according to an Amnesty International press release. 

Jatupat was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in 2017 for criticizing the Thai monarchy. Thailand is considered to be an autocratic regime.

The lawsuit alleged that NSO Group facilitated his targeting and violated his and the other Thai activists’ rights. He sought 2,500,000 Thai baht ($72,129) in damages along with access to the data taken from his device and the deletion of it from the spyware firm’s database, according to the press release.

The court dismissed the case, saying there was not enough evidence to prove his device was infected.  

The case was considered to be a potentially landmark challenge to NSO, which manufactures a powerful zero-click spyware known as Pegasus that has been found on scores of devices belonging to human rights activists, journalists and opposition politicians worldwide.

An NSO spokesperson said in a statement that it welcomes the court’s decision “reaffirming the lack of evidence to support the claims against our company.”

“We remain committed to the responsible use of our technologies, which are exclusively provided to government agencies for the prevention of serious crimes and terrorism,” they said...

The Thai lawsuit is significant because it is one of the few to have been filed against the NSO Goup in the Global South. Had it gone to trial, the case would have provided information about which actors and agencies engaged with NSO to deploy Pegasus against the activists, said ....director of Asia Pacific policy at the digital rights group Access Now.

...[T]he lawsuit was also important because it unfolded at the same time as a lawsuit from WhatsApp against NSO, which he said has “demonstrated clearly that NSO Group has had direct knowledge of the usage of Pegasus and who it's being used against, and that their previous claims around not knowing what their customers are doing has been proven to be false.”

Other human rights leaders expressed deep concern over the court decision.

NSO Group refuses to share “due diligence processes” required by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the rights group alleged.

NSO Group maintains that it simply manufactures spyware, but recent sworn testimony from its executives suggest it plays an extensive role in operating it. 

The company also refuses to disclose who its government clients are despite the rampant abuse of its spyware...