US citizen sues Ethiopia for using computer spyware against him February 19, 2014 A Washington area man with ties to Ethiopia’s political opposition sued that country’s government in federal court Tuesday, alleging that agents had used powerful spyware to hack into his computer and snoop on his private communications for more than four months. The suit says that forensics experts found more than 2,000 files related to a spyware program called FinSpy, including evidence that it had accessed the plaintiff’s Skype calls, e-mails and Web-browsing history in violation of U.S. wiretapping laws. The case is the latest sign that the government of Ethiopia, an American ally with a history of repressing political opponents, journalists and human rights activists, has used sophisticated Internet technology to monitor its perceived enemies, even when they are in other countries. “The Ethiopian government appears to be doing everything it can to spy on members of the diaspora, especially those in contact with opposition groups,” said Nate Cardozo, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group based in San Francisco that prepared the suit. Tuesday’s suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, takes the unusual step of not naming the plaintiff, who says in an affidavit that revealing his identity would endanger him, his children and members of his family still in Ethiopia. The man came to the United States 22 years ago, won political asylum and now is a U.S. citizen living in Silver Spring, Md. He provides “technical and administrative support” to an Ethiopian opposition group, Ginbot 7, but is not a formal member of that group, the affidavit says. In the suit, the plaintiff uses a pseudonym, “Kidane,” a common name in Ethiopia. A judge must decide whether the pseudonym will be allowed in the suit.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Feb 2014 09:58:03 +0000
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