I think that's an uncharitable interpretation. I understood it as something like: "Before Pegasus there were lots of regimes which would have liked to spy on t

I think that's an uncharitable interpretation. I understood it as something like: "Before Pegasus there were lots of regimes which would have liked to spy on their populace, but were prevented from doing so by their technical incompetence. It's fortunate that totalitarians are often not sophisticated enough to spy effectively, but that is mitigated by the availability of tools like this."