Spyware You Should Know About and Other Things
America blacklisted the same company it wants to buy
It’s safe to say there is a lot going on in the world today. Although one story we’re most interested in has nothing to do with inflation, Boris Johnson, or the war in Ukraine. It is focused on the controversy surrounding the spyware company, NSO Group.
Tools can have good and bad utilities. A machete is useful for clearing brush, but also as a weapon. And let’s not get started on the utility of guns, whether for hunting, self-defense, or otherwise.
The same can be said for the spyware developed by the NSO Group. In the right hands, their software called Pegasus could be used for good: thwarting terrorist attacks, preventing coups, or accomplishing other legitimate law enforcement objectives.
How we define right or legitimate in this context, however, is about as easy as defining terrorism, for one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.
Regardless, it’s important that you know the capabilities of Pegasus. It’s important you understand that democracies, including the United States, have used it to spy on their own citizens. The NSO Group has even allegedly sold the software to bad actors, which led the U.S. to blacklist the company, basically preventing any U.S. company from doing business with it.
As The New Yorker described:
An analysis by Forensic Architecture, a research group at the University of London, has linked Pegasus to three hundred acts of physical violence. It has been used to target members of Rwanda’s opposition party and journalists exposing corruption in El Salvador. In Mexico, it appeared on the phones of several people close to the reporter Javier Valdez Cárdenas, who was murdered after investigating drug cartels. Around the time that Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a longtime critic, Pegasus was allegedly used to monitor phones belonging to Khashoggi’s associates, possibly facilitating the killing, in 2018.
Despite blacklisting NSO Group for these (and other) activities, The New York Times recently reported that U.S. spy agencies have made efforts to buy the technology.
Why should this surprise anyone?
It shouldn’t. Spy craft has always been about gaining an edge. Generally speaking, the better someone is at gathering intelligence, the more effective they will be.
There are few technologies right now that are better at monitoring and surveilling someone than Pegasus.
This spyware can “extract the contents of a phone, giving access to its texts and photographs, or activate its camera and microphone to provide real-time surveillance.”
Think about that for a second.
The software requires no actions on your end. No link clicks, no malware downloads, nothing. It infiltrates your phone without you having the slightest clue until it’s too late. It reveals everything on your device.
This functionality has brought heat to the NSO Group, which developed Pegasus. They are an Israeli company that licenses surveillance software to government agencies. Israel has faced mounting international pressure to clamp down on the NSO Group when evidence revealed that Pegasus had been used to target activists, journalists, politicians, and corporate executives.
Yet while many in the international community have cried foul, many of those same critics (like the United States) want to buy the software for themselves.
It raises questions we plan to explore in a longer form article this week - should governments have these types of surveillance and monitoring capabilities? And if so - or if it’s impossible to realistically stop - what’s the appropriate framework for them to operate in with this type of power? Can we ever be comfortable they are using technologies like Pegasus appropriately? Especially given the dark history people like Edward Snowden revealed years ago.
What do you think?
Be sure to subscribe to us on Medium so you don’t miss the story. We’ll also feature it in our newsletter next week, so make sure you’re subscribed here too.
Other things…
On the topic of surveillance and monitoring, last week I commented on a TikTok video about a face recognition payment system in China. The video’s creator explained that this is the norm in China now, where you literally pay for items like groceries by scanning your face.
How do you feel about that?
The creator acknowledged that it would likely scare a lot of westerners. I said he was right, that the technology was both “convenient and scary.”
He pinned my westerner comment to the top of his video that has now generated some 1 million views, so needless to say, many people have seen it and reacted to my brief statement.
Most questioned whether it was so different than using face recognition software on an iPhone or Android device. Others asked why I even used TikTok if I found this scary (given TikTok is owned by a Chinese company).
I suppose it’s largely because scanning my face for every purchase is a bit weird? And a bit much? Especially given the Chinese government’s active role in its domestic economy. The U.S. government (as far as I know) doesn’t track my grocery and pharmacy purchases, but that’s not beyond the realm in China.
Am I being naive though?
Also on TikTok…
I’ve started posting more (despite it being Chinese owned…) so be sure to follow along if you’re interested. One of my latest videos was on the hasty departure of Boris Johnson, comparing it to U.S. Republicans.
Does country actually matter more than political parties these days?
We’ll be doing more videos this week, probably focused on Biden’s growing unpopularity and his trip to the Middle East. The midterm elections are fast approaching.
On tap this week…
In addition to spyware and all things surveillance state, expect more on Elon Musk (who never ceases to amaze). One of my favorite writers, Matt Levine, continues to cover Elon’s (self-created) mess with greatness. Be sure to check out his latest piece if you haven’t already.
I also finished a great book recently, Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. I plan to write about that as it relates to entrepreneurship and its growing decline in America.
Finally, now that I’m back from London, expect to see some reflection pieces on dear London Town, with lots of post-Brexit and money laundering musings.
Enjoy the week.