Tag Archives: freedom of speech

Another year, another censorship attempt

On January 15th, 2023, we received a Cease and Desist letter (you can see the letter at the bottom of this page) from the ‘General Counsel’ of Cellebrite Ltd., requiring [us] to immediately shut down the site named “EnlaceHacktivista.org” on the grounds that their intellectual property was made public as part of a series of leaks which also include “Micro Systemation AB” from Sweden. Within these leaked data, it is possible to find documentation with tools developed to break into private devices (phones, tablets and laptops) and extract information.

Both companies are notorious for selling their products to oppressive regimes with very poor human rights records, which use these tools to harass journalists and put their work and lives in danger. So, while a cease and desist letter is an internationally recognized procedure, according to the EU law this leak is protected by the DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/1937 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 23 October 2019.

We take the protection of our customers’ privacy, security, and general rights seriously and in this case, we have determined this request clearly attempts to use copyright laws to suppress free speech and media, which is not legal as detailed in the DIRECTIVE 2001/29/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL. As a result, we have politely informed the representative of Cellebrite Ltd. that we will not take action.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Last year ended with a similar request regarding this platform: https://blog.flokinet.is/2022/11/11/censorship-in-ecuador/

More information about these companies can be found here:

https://theintercept.com/2021/06/14/myanmar-msab-eu-technology-regulation/

https://signal.org/blog/cellebrite-vulnerabilities/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/22/signal-founder-i-hacked-police-phone-cracking-tool-cellebrite

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The letter can be found here:

Dear Sir / madam:

I am Cellebrite DI Ltd. and its group companies (“Cellebrite”) General Counsel. It has come to our attention that person(s) operating under the name of “EnlaceHacktIvista.org” (“Enlace”) have a domain under the name of www.EnlaceHacktIvista.org. It has further come to our attention that FlokiNET are the ISP hosting this Enlace domain. On January 13, 2023 Enlace issued a statement on their website notifying of the receipt of certain Cellebrite owned files from an authorized person, and further indicated the “leaks” are available for download in different locations including their said domain.

Cellebrite hereby requires that you immediately shut down www.EnlaceHacktIvista.org and cease and desist from making available or enabling the availability, on such website or otherwise, of any of Cellebrite’s copyrighted software, documentations, scripts or any other artifact identified to be owned by Cellebrite, including, without limitation, the Cellebrite installation files (collectively the “Cellebrite Materials”).

All use or distribution of the Cellebrite Materials is subject to Cellebrite’s end user license agreement (“EULA”). Cellebrite’s EULA provides that the license grant is subject to the terms and conditions of the EULA, including without limitation the restrictions on transfer, assignment or distribution, making the grant of the license conditional on compliance with the terms of the EULA. Under Cellebrite’s EULA, Cellebrite Materials may not be sublicense, transferred or assigned without Cellebrite’s prior written consent. Under Cellebrite’s EULA, Cellebrite Materials may not be distributed, including by selling a product on a secondhand market, nor is it permitted to attempt to distribute Software. As Cellebrite’s EULA does not permit transfer, assignment, distribution or an attempt to distribute Software or other Cellebrite Materials, publishing of Cellebrite Materials infringes Cellebrite’s copyright and other intellectual property rights in such materials.

We, therefore, demand that you immediately cease and desist from making available or aiding in allowing availability of any Cellebrite Materials on the said website www.EnlaceHacktIvista.org or otherwise. Your failure to remove the website or our materials from the website and to provide us with written assurance that you have done so within seven (7) days of the date of this letter will force us to explore additional means of legal redress available to Cellebrite in connection with the unauthorized use of Cellebrite’s copyrighted Software and other materials.

This letter is not intended to exhaust or waive any claim or argument that Cellebrite have or may have. Nothing in this letter (or any lack thereof) shall prejudice any of Cellebrite’s claims, rights or cause of action against you or any other party acting on your behalf.

Respectfully,

General Counsel

Cellebrite DI Ltd.

As we stated before, we will not censor free press and the freedom of speech!