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In some ways i think the most interesting aspect is that US federal government has to outsource its spyware. Is it just that the NSA is unwilling (legally prev

In some ways i think the most interesting aspect is that US federal government has to outsource its spyware. Is it just that the NSA is unwilling (legally prevented?) to share their toys? Its hard to imagine they don't have capabilities like this.

x0x0 1y ago
I suspect the nsa doesn't want to burn their 0 days on this.
- itqwertz 1y ago
  I suspect Israel does whatever they want under the auspices of national security, gives “private” cybersecurity corporations latitude to circumvent international laws, then packages it all up to sell to the highest bidder.
  - bawolff 1y ago
    It seems pretty unlikely that selling a zero-day to a state actor is a violation of international law, unless the vendor knows that state actor intends to use it to commit an internationally wrongful act. Like at the very worst - selling "cyberweapons" would follow the same rules as selling actual weapons. I don't super follow US politics, but i don't think we are at the point where ICE is comitting crimes against humanity - which i think is what would be required for this transaction to violate international law.
vFunct 1y ago
NSA isn't allowed to spy on US citizens. NSA is a US military organization under Department of Defense, and Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US. One of the few good things revealed by Edward Snowdens leaks was the fact that the NSA has filters for intercepted communications to filter out comms from US citizens. This was in top-secret programs that had no reason to be publicly known, and yet the NSA still had these filters installed anyways, because everyone in the NSA understands that they're not a law-enforcement agency, because of Posse Comitatus.
- ronsor 1y ago
  > Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US No, we're allowing that now for some reason.
  - anthem2025 1y ago
    [flagged]
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
- bawolff 1y ago
  > Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US. Sure, but i dont think (ianal) that it prevents technology transfer.
  - mattnewton 1y ago
    Who says that isn’t happening?
    - amarant 1y ago
      It's implied by the fact that Ice had to obtain the spyware from israel
      - yesokbut 1y ago
        [dead]
      - mattnewton 1y ago
        I mean that the US government could have laundered some of the tools it is not supposed to have developed against US citizens through Israeli companies. (We don’t have any evidence of this in this case)
- BoardsOfCanada 1y ago
tptacek 1y ago
(1) Everybody outsources "spyware". (2) NSA does not in fact have to outsource spyware (they may do it for convenience/situational logistics). (3) US federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies all have multiple vendors for this stuff.

x0x0 1y ago

I suspect the nsa doesn't want to burn their 0 days on this.

itqwertz 1y ago
I suspect Israel does whatever they want under the auspices of national security, gives “private” cybersecurity corporations latitude to circumvent international laws, then packages it all up to sell to the highest bidder.
- bawolff 1y ago
  It seems pretty unlikely that selling a zero-day to a state actor is a violation of international law, unless the vendor knows that state actor intends to use it to commit an internationally wrongful act. Like at the very worst - selling "cyberweapons" would follow the same rules as selling actual weapons. I don't super follow US politics, but i don't think we are at the point where ICE is comitting crimes against humanity - which i think is what would be required for this transaction to violate international law.

vFunct 1y ago

NSA isn't allowed to spy on US citizens. NSA is a US military organization under Department of Defense, and Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US. One of the few good things revealed by Edward Snowdens leaks was the fact that the NSA has filters for intercepted communications to filter out comms from US citizens. This was in top-secret programs that had no reason to be publicly known, and yet the NSA still had these filters installed anyways, because everyone in the NSA understands that they're not a law-enforcement agency, because of Posse Comitatus.

ronsor 1y ago
> Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US No, we're allowing that now for some reason.
- anthem2025 1y ago
  [flagged]
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
bawolff 1y ago
> Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US. Sure, but i dont think (ianal) that it prevents technology transfer.
- mattnewton 1y ago
  Who says that isn’t happening?
  - amarant 1y ago
    It's implied by the fact that Ice had to obtain the spyware from israel
    - yesokbut 1y ago
      [dead]
    - mattnewton 1y ago
      I mean that the US government could have laundered some of the tools it is not supposed to have developed against US citizens through Israeli companies. (We don’t have any evidence of this in this case)
BoardsOfCanada 1y ago

tptacek 1y ago

(1) Everybody outsources "spyware". (2) NSA does not in fact have to outsource spyware (they may do it for convenience/situational logistics). (3) US federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies all have multiple vendors for this stuff.