Digital Map to Monitor Users’ Health

A visitor tests the Reign health tracker bracelet by Jaybird, which monitors activity and sleep. Reuters
A visitor tests the Reign health tracker bracelet by Jaybird, which monitors activity and sleep. Reuters
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Digital Map to Monitor Users’ Health

A visitor tests the Reign health tracker bracelet by Jaybird, which monitors activity and sleep. Reuters
A visitor tests the Reign health tracker bracelet by Jaybird, which monitors activity and sleep. Reuters

A Chinese company has developed a digital map for every individual using DNA and samples of saliva and urine. This information is then used to inform the user of his / her overall health status and to help monitor early-stage disease.

During her trip to China last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the headquarters of a new private Chinese company specializing in the collection and analysis of health data for citizens in China to help them monitor their health all the time in return for a subscription, the German News Agency reported.

Collecting the largest amount of users’ data highlights the success of iCarbonX, founded by the Chinese Wang Jun, a biologist and programming specialist in 2015.

The iCarbonX aims to collect and evaluate the health data of about one million users in China over the next five years. The company cooperates with fitness clubs and medical clinics, as well as opening its own biological measurement stations in major cities in China, but also, aims to reach its data collection points to the user's home in the long run.

At the same time, the firm plans to develop a new generation of smart home appliances such as "toilets" that analyze urine, toothbrushes that analyze saliva, and mirrors that scan the user's skin to provide the best and most accurate health information.



US Judge Finds Israel's NSO Group Liable for Hacking in WhatsApp Lawsuit

Israeli cyber firm NSO Group's exhibition stand is seen at "ISDEF 2019", an international defense and homeland security expo, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Keren Manor/File Photo
Israeli cyber firm NSO Group's exhibition stand is seen at "ISDEF 2019", an international defense and homeland security expo, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Keren Manor/File Photo
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US Judge Finds Israel's NSO Group Liable for Hacking in WhatsApp Lawsuit

Israeli cyber firm NSO Group's exhibition stand is seen at "ISDEF 2019", an international defense and homeland security expo, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Keren Manor/File Photo
Israeli cyber firm NSO Group's exhibition stand is seen at "ISDEF 2019", an international defense and homeland security expo, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Keren Manor/File Photo

A US judge ruled on Friday in favor of Meta Platforms' WhatsApp in a lawsuit accusing Israel's NSO Group of exploiting a bug in the messaging app to install spy software allowing unauthorized surveillance.

US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, granted a motion by WhatsApp and found NSO liable for hacking and breach of contract.

The case will now proceed to a trial only on the issue of damages, Hamilton said. NSO Group did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, according to Reuters.

Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, said the ruling is a win for privacy.

"We spent five years presenting our case because we firmly believe that spyware companies could not hide behind immunity or avoid accountability for their unlawful actions," Cathcart said in a social media post.

"Surveillance companies should be on notice that illegal spying will not be tolerated."

Cybersecurity experts welcomed the judgment.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher with Canadian internet watchdog Citizen Lab — which first brought to light NSO’s Pegasus spyware in 2016 — called the judgment a landmark ruling with “huge implications for the spyware industry.”

“The entire industry has hidden behind the claim that whatever their customers do with their hacking tools, it's not their responsibility,” he said in an instant message. “Today's ruling makes it clear that NSO Group is in fact responsible for breaking numerous laws.”

WhatsApp in 2019 sued NSO seeking an injunction and damages, accusing it of accessing WhatsApp servers without permission six months earlier to install the Pegasus software on victims' mobile devices. The lawsuit alleged the intrusion allowed the surveillance of 1,400 people, including journalists, human rights activists and dissidents.

NSO had argued that Pegasus helps law enforcement and intelligence agencies fight crime and protect national security and that its technology is intended to help catch terrorists, pedophiles and hardened criminals.

NSO appealed a trial judge's 2020 refusal to award it "conduct-based immunity," a common law doctrine protecting foreign officials acting in their official capacity.

Upholding that ruling in 2021, the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals called it an "easy case" because NSO's mere licensing of Pegasus and offering technical support did not shield it from liability under a federal law called the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which took precedence over common law.

The US Supreme Court last year turned away NSO's appeal of the lower court's decision, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.