https://tech.newstatesman.com/policy/whatsapp-spyware-lawsuit-against-nso-group-could-change-cyber-espionage-laws-forever

Almost six months after it was served with a lawsuit by WhatsApp, the controversial Israeli spyware company NSO Group took its first substantive action in relation to the court case last week – it filed a motion to dismiss it on several grounds. WhatsApp alleges that NSO Group is responsible for hacking the accounts of over 1,000 of its users, including those of human rights activists, academics, journalists and lawyers. But NSO Group is manoeuvring to have the case thrown out before it ever reaches a jury trial. 

The company’s arguments for dismissing the case include the issue of personal jurisdiction and whether a US court has the right to try an Israeli company with limited operations in the States. But more interestingly, the company is seeking to claim what’s known as derivative sovereign immunity. The US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) of 1976 – a version of which exists in most countries – means that foreign nation states are mostly immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution in the US. In England, the doctrine was first applied to monarchs, and stemmed from the idea that the king could do no wrong. Essentially, NSO Group is arguing that because its only clients are nation states, it should be sheltered by a derivative version of the law that protects states from being held legally liable by foreign courts.