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This spyware can install onto any iPhone or Android phone and spy on everything you do silently. It's a game changer for governments and their ability to intrud

This spyware can install onto any iPhone or Android phone and spy on everything you do silently. It's a game changer for governments and their ability to intrude on our lives. It really vindicates everything Snowden has said on the topic.

cf499 5y ago
"It really vindicates everything Snowden has said on the topic." Did any of his statements really need vindication though? Have we not known about this forever? (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON) I suspect the real problem is, and always has been, our perceived inability to change any of it.
- _kbh_ 5y ago
  ECHELON is way worse then Pegasus though, cause ECHELON / PRISM / whatever you don't even need spyware on your phone or to be targeted to be scooped up in their net.
  - Zak 5y ago
    Mass interception over the wire affects more people, but it's easier to defend against using cryptography.
  - toofy 5y ago
    maybe. these are different problems existing in different scopes. a modern echelon dragnet would get an absolute mass of encrypted data so your fear will depend on whether or not you believe governments can break that crypto, and if so, at what scale. pegasus on the other hand is highly targeted, infects silently and completely takes over your device–the camera, the microphone, keyboard, etc… encryption will not help. nothing can save you. echelon was dragnet, pegasus is targeted. both extremely dangerous yet i still find something about pegasus to be infinitely more frightening. we’ve already seen very high profile journalists murdered from pegasus and i suspect we’re going to uncover more as it’s dug into further.
- aitchnyu 5y ago
  India could have been outraged at the news two years ago but we had to reach this point.
skohan 5y ago
What makes this technically possible? I.e, isn't one of Apple's main arguments for needing an app store so that they can prevent this kind of thing on a hardware and software level?
pieter_mj 5y ago
I do firmly believe US government, Apple and Google have the patriotic duty to stop NSO and close these zero-click, zero-day vulnerabilities. Are they seriously allowing foreign governments and other unscrupulous parties to infiltrate and spy whomever they wish, just because it is also convenient for them?

cf499 5y ago

"It really vindicates everything Snowden has said on the topic." Did any of his statements really need vindication though? Have we not known about this forever? (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON) I suspect the real problem is, and always has been, our perceived inability to change any of it.

_kbh_ 5y ago
ECHELON is way worse then Pegasus though, cause ECHELON / PRISM / whatever you don't even need spyware on your phone or to be targeted to be scooped up in their net.
- Zak 5y ago
  Mass interception over the wire affects more people, but it's easier to defend against using cryptography.
- toofy 5y ago
  maybe. these are different problems existing in different scopes. a modern echelon dragnet would get an absolute mass of encrypted data so your fear will depend on whether or not you believe governments can break that crypto, and if so, at what scale. pegasus on the other hand is highly targeted, infects silently and completely takes over your device–the camera, the microphone, keyboard, etc… encryption will not help. nothing can save you. echelon was dragnet, pegasus is targeted. both extremely dangerous yet i still find something about pegasus to be infinitely more frightening. we’ve already seen very high profile journalists murdered from pegasus and i suspect we’re going to uncover more as it’s dug into further.
aitchnyu 5y ago
India could have been outraged at the news two years ago but we had to reach this point.

skohan 5y ago

What makes this technically possible? I.e, isn't one of Apple's main arguments for needing an app store so that they can prevent this kind of thing on a hardware and software level?

pieter_mj 5y ago

I do firmly believe US government, Apple and Google have the patriotic duty to stop NSO and close these zero-click, zero-day vulnerabilities. Are they seriously allowing foreign governments and other unscrupulous parties to infiltrate and spy whomever they wish, just because it is also convenient for them?