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Arguably, this is the real use case Pegasus was designed for. A government (Uganda) that does not have a large and mature civil service that would support a G7
by motohagiography 5y ago
Arguably, this is the real use case Pegasus was designed for. A government (Uganda) that does not have a large and mature civil service that would support a G7 level technical domestic intelligence agency went to market for the tools of one (NSO), so they can keep tabs on foreign intelligence agents (state department staff) in their country. I am not a fan of NSO at all, but this case sounds like they're providing sovereignty or statecraft as a service to a government that prefers to buy instead of build their security capability.
When the game is defined as a competition for how to break its rules in the most unexpected ways and with the fewest consequences, Uganda appears to have joined in with aplomb. To me it's the first time an NSO story doesn't seem like a scandal.
- azernik 5y agoKind of? It seems like the main use case isn't a country that needs the tools of state-on-state spying; it's a country that needs the tools of Chinese-style domestic surveillance of the political opposition. In most cases where US persons have been targeted with NSO software, it's as part of operations against domestic dissidents, including in this case, where most of the usage was against Ugandan protesters.
- motohagiography 5y agoIf you are a state, NSO is what you get when you don't have Stingrays, PRISM, and a pipeline into domestic enforcement for paralell construction. Imo, in this specific case, it's equivalent.
- bjourne 5y agoThe "oh, but everyone is doing it!" argument. I don't for a second believe that other countries install spyware on foreign diplomats and other peoples phones. What NSO and the Israeli government is doing is rotten to the core and unless you have evidence of the contrary you cannot assert that other actors are doing the same thing.
- jimbob45 5y agoI know you're joking but for anyone that's not in on the joke: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24690055 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24690055
- bjourne 5y agoWow! You found one instance of the US spying on a friendly government. That totally justifies NSO leasing spyware to authoritarian third world regimes! Carry on folks, nothing to see here.
- smoldesu 5y agoIt doesn't justify it, but if we're going to take a stance against spyware, we have to take a stance against all spyware. That includes the home-rolled stuff that the NSA pushes out to Apple and Google.
- triactual 5y agoNo, we don’t.
- ngcc_hk 5y agoTotally agree. There is a difference still between totalitarian countries against its own people with no theoretical way out even, vs USA that still have some way out.
- smoldesu 5y agoWhat makes that kind of hypocrisy okay?
- refurb 5y agoPolitics is not about fairness or the truth, it all about getting people to buy the ideas your selling.