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U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

reuters.com

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Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#141

Post by dang »

jjclint wrote: post #103
unknown2374 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A book came out about a year ago by a fantastic academic about the history of settler colonialism by Israel in Palestine [1]. I'd suggest anyone who wants to learn more about Israel and values referenced record of history. The book is very well written, referenced (a sixth of the book is references) and comes highly regarded. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Hundred-Years-War-Palestine-Resistanc...

Your comment has nothing to do with the article. Stop shoving your sick agenda down our throats and save your "links" to yourself

Whoa - you can't attack another user like that here, regardless of how strongly you disagree. We ban accounts that post like this.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#142

Post by dang »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #52

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.

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.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#143

Post by mola »

Tronno wrote: post #83
montblanc wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Israel is ostensibly a Western ally, yet they sell weapons that are used to attack Western nations and their citizens. Can you see why some people might consider that a problem? Your accusations of anti-semitism are unwelcome and without merit.

Uganda is not a US enemy. NSO is a disgusting money grab and a threat for democracies. But, they never sold to any nation which is a US enemy. Uganda is not a US enemy. Israeli government, which grants the export licenses is not that dumb.

Allies spy on eachother all the time. that's a given any sovreign state knows and takes into account.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#144

Post by q1w2 »

redman25 wrote: post #17

> NSO Group said in a statement on Thursday that it did not have any indication their tools were used but canceled the relevant accounts and would investigate based on the Reuters inquiry. Why would they cancel accounts without knowledge of wrongdoing?

Aside from that obvious contradiction - this also indicates that the tools they deploy are either NSO hosted or use a licensing system to run.

There was a recent Darknet Diaries episode that reported evidence that at least some of the NSO tools are hosted services.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#145

Post by dang »

bob-a-fet wrote: post #37

One settler colony hacks another settler colony, the one that had co-sponsored its creation along with Britain, the mothership of all settler colonies. Honor amongst thieves? No such thing.

Please do not take HN threads into generic flamewar hell. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#146

Post by montblanc »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #85
montblanc wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacks Americans? Come on now, don't go overboard sir.

> Attacks Americans? I was delineating why the U.S. is fine with selling weapons to e.g. Saudi Arabia but would not be happy about those same weapons being sold by Russia to Iran. You seemed confused on that point. There isn't a grand philosophy. It's international relations. It's anarchy. The U.S. government promotes American and allied interests. Separately, yes, if you're hacking the State Department, you're attac…

This wasn't done by NSO knowingly. I have no reason not to believe them on that, they have a financial and strategic interest not to piss America off that bad. Also - Uganda is not Iran, it's a friendly country. Unfortunately someone there decided to use it against American diplomats which is unfortunate.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#147

Post by gameswithgo »

redman25 wrote: post #17

> NSO Group said in a statement on Thursday that it did not have any indication their tools were used but canceled the relevant accounts and would investigate based on the Reuters inquiry. Why would they cancel accounts without knowledge of wrongdoing?

Remember that this group's tools have been used to murder journalists, which they are unapologetic about.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#148

Post by dang »

user-the-name wrote: post #98
maltalex wrote: post #46

I don't understand the focus on NSO in these stories. If U.S State Department personnel in Uganda were shot from an M-16, would the headline mention "an American arms manufacturer"? No, because it's ridiculous. For better or worse, NSO's product is a weapon. How is it any different from an M-16? Where is the outrage towards the people who used this weapon against the State Department?

> No, because it's ridiculous. Is it really.

Could you please stop posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments to HN? You've been doing it a lot, unfortunately, and we ban that sort of account.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#149

Post by md_ »

walrus01 wrote: post #11

I'm waiting for the day that the US declares a foreign corporation as an "enemy combatant", as they have done with foreign citizen wahabbist jihadis and US citizens such as Anwar Al-Awlaki. Given the extent and depth of US-Israeli cooperation and ties, the precedeing theoretical is probably going to remain in the realm of theoretical.

NSO's PE investors are big-time American and British funds.

Just sayin'.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#150

Post by markus_zhang »

This is a typical "shadow government" symptom. You have forces working within the government that 1) have their own agendas; 2) have connection to international communities, usually military-intelligence ones; 3) have almost zero regulation; 4) even many high ranking government officials don't know about them because they are brotherhood-like closed circles.

This reminds me of Operation Gladio or Propaganda Due but domestic. Same playbook, different players.

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