[LordOfWolves]

From Zerodium’s FAQ page:

> Zerodium customers are government organizations (mainly from Europe and North America) in need of advanced zero-day exploits and cybersecurity capabilities.

Based off Zerodium’s origin and reputation, it seems an exploit is sought which enables a governmental actor to examine information that it otherwise could not. I am assuming they do not have a legal basis for doing so or courts would have granted/ordered such access.

[tedunangst]

How do you think warrants work? The police suspect Criminal Charlie of organizing a crime using pidgin, so they get a warrant, then they give the warrant to Charlie? "Please remember to cc us on all your criminal plans. Thanks."

[throwaway481048]

The issue isn’t about the warrant but the over breadth of the method for getting the desired information as it can leave other users vulnerable. Whether they have a warrant or not, this seems like overkill, because they could obtain said info in a much more straightforward way, assuming they have probable cause.

[g_p]

> I am assuming they do not have a legal basis for doing so or courts would have granted/ordered such access.

It's also possible that they have a lawful basis and warrant, but realise executing a physical warrant won't get access to what's required - with e2e encrypted chats going over Pidgin, on an encrypted laptop, you need to be very confident that when you swoop, the laptop is on and decrypted. You get one "go" at that, otherwise you have a suspect, little or no evidence, and an attorney requesting their immediate release on bail absent any actual evidence, which would let them flee and clean up any other evidence that may be out there, either with them or others.

[zulln]

This assumes they even know the physical location.

[celticninja]

Also 'mainly' does not mean exclusively. If you think they won't sell an exploit to some tinpot dictator then I have a bridge to sell you.

[vmception]

Governments can offer bounties to find exploits, it is just too public if people know which government is looking for what. It isn't a legal issue.

[caymanjim]

The NSA doesn't need a warrant to intercept foreign communications, for just one example.