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That seems to be the case, although he claims to have somehow missed them. Overall this is one of those stories that's obviously an outrage, except for the fact
by EA-3167 3mo ago
That seems to be the case, although he claims to have somehow missed them. Overall this is one of those stories that's obviously an outrage, except for the fact that every country on Earth spies on the rest, and quite a few private entities do as well. Still the way the game is played if you get caught you have to act ashamed, and the people catching you get to gloat.
It's silly, but it's a show the public never tires of.
- healthworker 3mo agoIn this case he was investigating misuse of Pegasus spyware specifically, and was targeted with it while doing so. That's obstruction of justice, morally speaking, and would feel very scary, in that it would make you feel that this company might be so powerful that investigating it is personally dangerous.
- EA-3167 3mo agoThat's certainly the feeling the story is meant to engender yes.
- crewindream 3mo agoAlternate spin: He now has a conflict of interest. He’s now too biased to work on the committee.
- DANmode 3mo agoFor who?
- hammock 3mo agoThe US does not spy on Five Eyes government leadership or that of Israel. And perhaps more: in the wake of Snowden, which obliterated many diplomatic relationships the U.S. has with other countries, Obama issued a directive that the U.S. would not monitor heads of state and government of close friends and allies (even outside Five Eyes) unless there was a compelling national security reason. As far as we know that directive has remained in force with each successive administration as well. They spy on most others though. Germany’s Merkel, successive French presidents etc all had their phones hacked by US there is widely reported news of.
- leonidasrup 3mo agoUS does spy on Five Eyes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_espionage_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_espionage_in_Aus... "In December 2010, leaked US diplomatic cables indicated senior New Zealand Defence Ministry officials had been spying for the United States, secretly briefing the United States embassy on Cabinet discussions about the Iraq War." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_espionage_in_New_Zealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_espionage_in_New_Zeala...
- aetch 3mo agoThat’s pre-Snowden
- MomsAVoxell 3mo agoNothing has changed post-Snowden, other than that the general public have gone back into a state of apathy on the subject of reigning in their out of control surveillance state.
- aetch 3mo agoI didn’t say anything has changed, the 2010 example he mentioned is pre Snowden.
- matheusmoreira 3mo ago> The US does not spy on Five Eyes government leadership or that of Israel. Doubt. > unless there was a compelling national security reason There always is.
- EA-3167 3mo agoAbsolutely, and there's the same compelling reason for them to spy on the on the US in turn. I can't emphasize this enough, everyone is spying on everyone else. Close alliances give the impression that they don't because they tend to handle scandals in-house, it's for everyone's benefit to do so in most cases. Snowden's disclosure was a very unusual event and put everyone in a position of needing to act shocked, appalled, and put on a big show for the public; sweeping it under the rug was impossible. For all that many here would wish otherwise, Snowden wasn't a watershed though, it was a blip.
- Hizonner 3mo ago> every country on Earth spies on the rest, It's entirely possible an EU country did this; they're only vaguely guessing Belarus or whoever. In most countries, it's a big deal if the spies are caught spying on the domestic government. > quite a few private entities do as well. It's a risky game, doing that. You don't get any of the professional courtesies, and you're not usually eligible for the prisoner exchanges.