The covert use of hacking technology raises questions about fairness and transparency.
Cellebrite, a company known for its smartphone hacking technology, is calling on government agencies and security services to keep the use of its products secret. This is reported by TechCrunch.
The company enters into deals with government agencies, requiring them not to disclose the use of hacking technologies of the company. This approach raises concerns among lawyers who believe that the use of powerful hacking technologies should be subject to public scrutiny.
In a leaked training video for law enforcement officers, a senior Cellebrite employee urges customers to hide information about how the data was obtained: "in the end, you extracted the data, this is the data that solves the crime, how you did it, let's try to keep it as secret as possible."
Legal experts consider such requirements dangerous, as they can hinder the transparency of a process that requires judicial approval. Riana Pfefferkorn, a researcher at Stanford University's Internet Observatory, said: "The defendant should be able to fully understand how Cellebrite devices work, examine them and determine if they were working properly."
In addition, criminal defense lawyer Hanni Fakhuri stressed the importance of disclosing such information for the defense to determine the legality of obtaining evidence.
A Cellebrite spokesperson stated that the company adheres to ethical principles and the legitimate use of its tools. However, Saira Hussain, senior associate at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Cooper Quintin, senior technologist, said that "Cellebrite helps create a world where authoritarian countries, criminal groups, and cyber mercenaries can also exploit vulnerable devices and commit crimes, silence the opposition, and invade people's privacy."
Cellebrite isn't the first company to ask its customers to keep their technology a secret.
For years, government contractor Harris Corporation forced law enforcement agencies that wanted to use a mobile phone surveillance tool known as Stingrays to sign a non-disclosure agreement that in some cases offered to close cases rather than disclose what tools the authorities were using. These requirements date back to the mid-2010s, but still apply today.
Cellebrite, a company known for its smartphone hacking technology, is calling on government agencies and security services to keep the use of its products secret. This is reported by TechCrunch.
The company enters into deals with government agencies, requiring them not to disclose the use of hacking technologies of the company. This approach raises concerns among lawyers who believe that the use of powerful hacking technologies should be subject to public scrutiny.
In a leaked training video for law enforcement officers, a senior Cellebrite employee urges customers to hide information about how the data was obtained: "in the end, you extracted the data, this is the data that solves the crime, how you did it, let's try to keep it as secret as possible."
Legal experts consider such requirements dangerous, as they can hinder the transparency of a process that requires judicial approval. Riana Pfefferkorn, a researcher at Stanford University's Internet Observatory, said: "The defendant should be able to fully understand how Cellebrite devices work, examine them and determine if they were working properly."
In addition, criminal defense lawyer Hanni Fakhuri stressed the importance of disclosing such information for the defense to determine the legality of obtaining evidence.
A Cellebrite spokesperson stated that the company adheres to ethical principles and the legitimate use of its tools. However, Saira Hussain, senior associate at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Cooper Quintin, senior technologist, said that "Cellebrite helps create a world where authoritarian countries, criminal groups, and cyber mercenaries can also exploit vulnerable devices and commit crimes, silence the opposition, and invade people's privacy."
Cellebrite isn't the first company to ask its customers to keep their technology a secret.
For years, government contractor Harris Corporation forced law enforcement agencies that wanted to use a mobile phone surveillance tool known as Stingrays to sign a non-disclosure agreement that in some cases offered to close cases rather than disclose what tools the authorities were using. These requirements date back to the mid-2010s, but still apply today.
