4 ms·

The Israel government gets a pass for anything they do. Whether it is lying about nukes or what they've done to Palestine. NSO is a feather in their cap.

flyinglizard 5y ago
Why are you conflating Israel (a state) and NSO (a fully private company, owned by American private equity at some point)?
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  > Why are you conflating Israel (a state) and NSO (a fully private company, owned by American private equity at some point)? Because Jerusalem has the power to stop, or at the very least regulate, NSO.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ignoramous 5y ago
  The Israeli Ministry of Defense licenses the export of Pegasus to foreign governments, but not to private entities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group#Pegasus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group#Pegasus
  - flyinglizard 5y ago
    These export controls for weapons exist in much of the western world. Once granted a license, Israel has no legal say in how the product is used by the end user. It’s all very routine and standard, not sure why people need basic explanations of what government export regulation is when the discussion is on Israel.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - thekid314 5y ago
      It goes much deeper than that. For a while now Israel has been using NSO as an incentive for foreign relations with authoritarian regimes. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/pegasus-project-turns-spotlight-on-spyware-firm-nso-ties-to-israeli-state https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/pegasus-projec... https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/foreign-policy-playlist/how-israeli-diplomacy-paved-the-way-for-nso-deals/ https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/foreign-policy-playlist/h... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/world/middleeast/nso-israel-palestinians-spyware.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/world/middleeast/nso-isra... https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-nso-blacklisting-shows-israel-s-cyber-diplomacy-is-a-double-edged-sword-1.10353505 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/.premium.HIGHL... https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/how-israel-used-nso-spyware-as-diplomatic-calling-card-1.4626705 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/how-israel... https://www.ft.com/content/24f22b28-56d1-4d66-8f76-c9020b1b5cb1 https://www.ft.com/content/24f22b28-56d1-4d66-8f76-c9020b1b5... https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/what-does-the-nso-hacking-scandal-mean-for-israels-cyber-diplomacy-675982 https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/what-does-the-nso-hacking-s...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jjclint 5y ago
Sounds like you and some other "clever" souls have an axe to grind with Israel.
- boomskats 5y ago
  > "clever" This is offensive. They outlined how they disagree with the Israeli government pretty clearly in their comment.
voz_ 5y ago
Please don't virtue signal, or state flame wars, or use this to posture some kind of agenda.
- birdyrooster 5y ago
  Please don't mistake yourself for dang
- devmunchies 5y ago
  I’m not seeing any virtue signaling.
q1w2 5y ago
These political flame comments don't belong on HN.
dang 5y ago
Please do not take HN threads further into generic flamewar hell. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29432721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29432721.
- SavantIdiot 5y ago
  Why not flag the article itself? There's nothing technical to be discussed here. If the article was talking about the technology, that's one thing, but its talking about state-sponsored espionage. Flagging my post is a bit like closing the barn door after the horses have left the building.
  - dang 5y ago
    HN isn't just for technical discussion. That ought to be clear both from the site guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) and the front page every day. HN has had articles about this kind of thing pretty much since the beginning and there are often interesting details and twists to discuss. Moreover, the ongoing NSO/Pegasus story is one that a lot of the community has been following with genuine interest. So I think it's ok (I admit I didn't read the article though!) Most importantly: no matter what the topic is, it doesn't make it ok for commenters to break the guidelines. Just the opposite, in fact—that's why we have this one: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." Your comment obviously broke that, as well as several others, which is why I replied as I did.

flyinglizard 5y ago

Why are you conflating Israel (a state) and NSO (a fully private company, owned by American private equity at some point)?

JumpCrisscross 5y ago
> Why are you conflating Israel (a state) and NSO (a fully private company, owned by American private equity at some point)? Because Jerusalem has the power to stop, or at the very least regulate, NSO.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ignoramous 5y ago
The Israeli Ministry of Defense licenses the export of Pegasus to foreign governments, but not to private entities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group#Pegasus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSO_Group#Pegasus
- flyinglizard 5y ago
  These export controls for weapons exist in much of the western world. Once granted a license, Israel has no legal say in how the product is used by the end user. It’s all very routine and standard, not sure why people need basic explanations of what government export regulation is when the discussion is on Israel.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - thekid314 5y ago
    It goes much deeper than that. For a while now Israel has been using NSO as an incentive for foreign relations with authoritarian regimes. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/pegasus-project-turns-spotlight-on-spyware-firm-nso-ties-to-israeli-state https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/20/pegasus-projec... https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/foreign-policy-playlist/how-israeli-diplomacy-paved-the-way-for-nso-deals/ https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/foreign-policy-playlist/h... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/world/middleeast/nso-israel-palestinians-spyware.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/08/world/middleeast/nso-isra... https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-nso-blacklisting-shows-israel-s-cyber-diplomacy-is-a-double-edged-sword-1.10353505 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/tech-news/.premium.HIGHL... https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/how-israel-used-nso-spyware-as-diplomatic-calling-card-1.4626705 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/how-israel... https://www.ft.com/content/24f22b28-56d1-4d66-8f76-c9020b1b5cb1 https://www.ft.com/content/24f22b28-56d1-4d66-8f76-c9020b1b5... https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/what-does-the-nso-hacking-scandal-mean-for-israels-cyber-diplomacy-675982 https://www.jpost.com/jpost-tech/what-does-the-nso-hacking-s...
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jjclint 5y ago

Sounds like you and some other "clever" souls have an axe to grind with Israel.

boomskats 5y ago
> "clever" This is offensive. They outlined how they disagree with the Israeli government pretty clearly in their comment.

voz_ 5y ago

Please don't virtue signal, or state flame wars, or use this to posture some kind of agenda.

birdyrooster 5y ago
Please don't mistake yourself for dang
devmunchies 5y ago
I’m not seeing any virtue signaling.

q1w2 5y ago

These political flame comments don't belong on HN.

dang 5y ago

Please do not take HN threads further into generic flamewar hell. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29432721 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29432721.

SavantIdiot 5y ago
Why not flag the article itself? There's nothing technical to be discussed here. If the article was talking about the technology, that's one thing, but its talking about state-sponsored espionage. Flagging my post is a bit like closing the barn door after the horses have left the building.
- dang 5y ago
  HN isn't just for technical discussion. That ought to be clear both from the site guidelines (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) and the front page every day. HN has had articles about this kind of thing pretty much since the beginning and there are often interesting details and twists to discuss. Moreover, the ongoing NSO/Pegasus story is one that a lot of the community has been following with genuine interest. So I think it's ok (I admit I didn't read the article though!) Most importantly: no matter what the topic is, it doesn't make it ok for commenters to break the guidelines. Just the opposite, in fact—that's why we have this one: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive." Your comment obviously broke that, as well as several others, which is why I replied as I did.