CDT Files Joint Amicus Brief Defending Encryption and the Public Interest in WhatsApp v. NSO Group
Yesterday, CDT joined Access Now and nine other civil society organizations in filing an amicus brief in WhatsApp v. NSO Group in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The case concerns NSO Group’s appeal of a district court decision granting WhatsApp a permanent injunction barring NSO from developing or deploying technology that interacts with WhatsApp’s platform, including the Pegasus spyware NSO used to compromise WhatsApp’s end-to-end encrypted communications. NSO argues that spyware tools like Pegasus serve the public interest by helping law enforcement overcome the challenges posed by encryption. Our brief squarely rebuts that claim.
In our brief, we argue that the permanent injunction serves the public interest because strong end-to-end encryption is itself a cornerstone of both human rights and national security. Encryption protects journalists, activists, and human rights defenders who rely on secure communications to do their work safely, often in the face of authoritarian repression. Encryption is what allows a dissident to contact a lawyer, a journalist to protect a source, and an activist to organize without fear their words will be used against them. Encryption also safeguards critical infrastructure and sensitive government communications from foreign adversaries. NSO’s track record makes clear that Pegasus has been deployed repeatedly against journalists, activists, and human rights defenders — the very people who rely on encryption the most. The Ninth Circuit should affirm the district court’s injunction.
CDT-led Coalition Calls for Transparency for White House AI Framework
CDT and Americans for Responsible Innovation led a broad, bipartisan coalition of over two dozen civil society groups in calling on the White House to release its Framework for review of frontier AI models.
CDT Amicus Brief Calls on Fourth Circuit to Rein In Geofence Warrants
Earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled in Chatrie v United States that the Fourth Amendment protected all cell phone location information, which CDT lauded as a landmark decision, but sent the case back down to the Fourth Circuit to assess the propriety of the geofence warrant at issue.
CDT and Partners Post Floor Alert Opposing CA SB 1013 Automated License Plate Readers Bill
The best way to ensure that Automated License Plate Readers are not abused is to limit the retention of stored data and to keep loopholes to lawful process closed. CA SB 1013 is a step in the wrong direction, and we urge the California legislature to reject this approach.
British Public Oppose Secret Surveillance Powers and Want Strong Protections for Encrypted Communications
CDT released nationally representative polling data revealing that a the British public are broadly concerned about the security, privacy, and free speech consequences of allowing law enforcement to access encrypted communications.
