The FBI hacks American smartphones ... and a human rights organization is suing it for privacy abuse claims
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that it will sue the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for cracking encryption on smartphones of US citizens.
The nonprofit said in a press release last week that the FBI had refused to acknowledge its role in the privacy violations despite details being made available in US federal court, and this was followed by a complaint for a warrant on December 22. The statement added that the US government had previously urged technology companies to build back doors in their products with the aim of circumventing encryption, but it stepped up its efforts by building their ability to decrypt user devices. A secret unit in one of the largest investigative offices in the United States has been sued for purchasing software to spy on encrypted data on smartphones. The news comes amid a campaign by the outgoing US President Donald Trump's administration against Chinese tech companies, which are accused of building alleged back doors in their products. The ACLU representatives added that a division of the FBI called the Electronic Hardware Analysis Unit (EDAU) was trying to purchase software intended to decrypt information stored securely on cell phones. The FBI secretly breaks down the encryption that secures our cell phones and laptops from identity thieves, hackers, and abusive governments, and refuses to even admit it has information about these efforts - despite some details being publicly presented in federal court. We are suing for some answers, according to the statement. EDAU can also decrypt and access information on locked iPhones and try to hire an electronics engineer tasked with "performing forensic extraction and advanced data recovery on locked and damaged devices." The ACLU submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to obtain FBI records on the EDAU program, but the office refused to confirm or deny information about the clandestine unit via Glomar's response, even though the records are publicly available. And Cyberscope reported last week that many governments, including the United States, Australia and other countries, have used similar programs to decrypt information. Europol has also launched a decryption platform to tackle organized crime.
