Appellate court blocks a US citizen from suing Ethiopian regime over hacking his computer

A US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday blocked an Ethiopian American from suing the Ethiopian government over hacking his computer and using spyware to monitor his activity.

Early in February, lawyers for the plaintiff had presented their arguments at an appellate court in DC for their client to be able to sue the Ethiopian regime against wiretapping.  

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which argues on behalf of of the plaintiff, who goes by the pseudonym Kidane, says the decision by the court is a “dangerous decision for cybersecurity.”

The court’s decision means that “foreign governments are free to spy on, injure, or even kill Americans in their own homes–so long as they do so by remote control,” the EFF said in a statement.

“In a stunningly dangerous decision, the D.C. Circuit ruled that Mr. Kidane had no legal remedy against Ethiopia for this attack, despite the fact that he was wiretapped at home in Maryland,” the EFF went on to say.

In 2012, the Ethiopian regime had infected the computer of Mr. Kidane with secret spyware, wiretapping his private Skype calls, and monitoring his entire family’s every use of the computer for a period of months.

With the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Citizen Lab, Mr. Kidane found that the Ethiopian regime used a notorious surveillance malware known as FinSpy, illegally wiretapped and invaded the privacy of Mr. Kidane, a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, according to a statement by EFF.

The malware took over Mr. Kidane’s computer and secretly sent copies of his activities, including Skype calls, web searches and indications of websites visited and other activity, to the Ethiopian government.

“The decision is extremely dangerous for cybersecurity. Under it, you have no recourse under law if a foreign government that hacks into your car and drives it off the road, targets you for a drone strike, or even sends a virus to your pacemaker, as long as the government planned the attack on foreign soil,” says EFF.

“We are evaluating our options for challenging this ruling.”