Spying
22 Articles

A Historic Cold War Execution on Espionage Charges: Information Delayed is Information Denied
The sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg call for release of all NSA and National Archives records related to their mother's case.

Spyware Out of the Shadows: The Need for A New International Regulatory Approach
We urgently need a system where the developers of spyware tools are forced either to require their State customers to provide credible guarantees on future human rights compliance,…

A Right to Spy? The Legality and Morality of Espionage
The Chinese spy balloon incident raises deeper concerns about the legality and morality of espionage.

Just Security Podcast: Spies, Balloons, and International Law
What does international law say about spying? To answer that question we have Asaf Lubin, an expert on international law and espionage.

The Year of Section 702 Reform, Part I: Backdoor Searches
Requiring a warrant for U.S. person queries honors the balance between security and liberty struck in the Fourth Amendment and ensures that Section 702 can’t be used to get around…

WhatsApp v. NSO Group: State Immunity and Cyber Spying
WhatsApp claims NSO implanted spyware on phones of human rights activists, lawyers, and religious figures. NSO says it can't be sued if it did so on behalf of (undisclosed) foreign…

U.S.-Russian Relations After the Russian Hacking Affair
Russian President Vladimir Putin has defied the long-standing, hard rules of the game in handling espionage affairs by failing to follow the Russian Foreign Ministry’s recommendation…

Recommended Holiday Reading from Just Security’s Editors
Just in time for holiday shopping, we asked some of our Just Security editors to help put together a reading list, partly with the incoming Trump administration in mind. We asked…

The So-Called Huawei Scandal and the Snowden Operation
We should spy on China. And Russia. And Iran. And plenty of other countries too. They are our political, diplomatic and economic competitors and enemies. And they spy on us. If…

Creative Ambiguity – International Law’s Distant Relationship with Peacetime Spying
In all the sound and fury over “five eye” intercept programs, commentators appear so far to have paid relatively little attention to international law. This is no simple…