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US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

apnews.com

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Re: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

#141

Post by tguvot »

CGMthrowaway wrote: post #83
breppp wrote: post #4

It's amazing that US and Israel are the only countries mentioned in the headline While the story itself is about Italy spying on a journalist in another EU country But I guess news sites needs them clicks

Per the article there isn't actually any hard evidence that Italy was spying on this journalist. In fact the relevant Italian parliamentary oversight committee (COPASIR) investigated and said while there were activists surveilled by Italy, legally and with government authorization, a journalist (Cancellato) specifically was not.

[flagged]

Re: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

#143

Post by msgodel »

edanm wrote: post #117
dttze wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Israel is powerful, but also has powerful enemies. That's entirely consistent and happens to be entirely true. And yes, Israel is a tiny country, both compared to almost all its enemies, and just objectively - it's one of the smallest countries in the world.

I think people would care a lot less if we didn't end up involved so often.

Re: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

#145

Post by Alive-in-2025 »

breppp wrote: post #12
kennywinker wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Headlines are written by the publisher not the author. They’re written to maximize readership. The fact that spying happened in italy by italians is mostly only interesting to italians. The fact that the US backs an israeli company that sells spying tools is interesting to many more people. You can see the selling clicks, but because they’re not twisting the truth or saying something misleading - in this case I mostl…

However, the fact that companies sell offensive cyber warfare software to governments is not new, and that specific company isn't either. There's also nothing inherently wrong with selling intelligence tools to a western government, Italy is not Iran or Zambia. And fighting terror or crime using software is valid. The only thing that surprises me is that a western government might attack journalists, and what I'd lik…

It is absolutely wrong to sell that software. It is mostly used to harass journalists and people advocating against dictatorial regimes. That is why there are endless headlines and articles about it being used against orgs like greenpeace, or people criticizing a govt. The claim was always we want to be able to use it against terrorists or real criminals - but at the least we know it is very frequently used to try to stop critics of governments.

It is immoral. I'd never hire someone who worked on such software or for one of those firms. We should have a movement that declares this.

Re: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

#146

Post by Alive-in-2025 »

breppp wrote: post #45
propagandist wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fighting crime, for example by spying on a WaPo columnist and then strangling him at a consular mission in Turkey and chopping up his body, to then dissolve it in acid. That's what this company's software is used for. Good luck to them shifting focus to the bad actors they choose to do business with.

That is not the same company, and as I said above, you expect something else from Italy compared to the Saudis

It's the same awful industry. This software is used to hurt journalists, to try to stop dissent. And kill people like the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Re: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

#148

Post by SkiFire13 »

CGMthrowaway wrote: post #83
breppp wrote: post #4

It's amazing that US and Israel are the only countries mentioned in the headline While the story itself is about Italy spying on a journalist in another EU country But I guess news sites needs them clicks

Per the article there isn't actually any hard evidence that Italy was spying on this journalist. In fact the relevant Italian parliamentary oversight committee (COPASIR) investigated and said while there were activists surveilled by Italy, legally and with government authorization, a journalist (Cancellato) specifically was not.

However at the same time Paragon offered the Italian Intelligence a way to determine whether their software was used against the journalist, but they rejected the offer and that feels very suspicious.

Re: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

#149

Post by bilbo0s »

amarcheschi wrote: post #135

To give more context copy pasting my comment from a similar thread I would like to add that Paragon disagrees with COPASIR: (article in italian) https://www.fanpage.it/politica/paragon-smentisce-il-copasir ... They offered to give some information about who was surveilled by whom, but not surprisingly the Italian government refused (it was used by 2 secret service agencies in italy). At this point, Paragon stopped gi…

Could also be that both are being untruthful. Lincoln let us know a long time ago, there are times when "both may be, but one must be". Personally, I think there may even be times when both parties are being truthful. ie - you're being played by a third party.

I'd imagine this is the sort of fallout when things go sideways and there is not the requisite level of trust on both sides to definitively run down root causes.

They both may have simply cut each other off. Since there is no definitive way of knowing the other side is being truthful.

Re: US-backed Israeli company's spyware used to target European journalists

#150

Post by worik »

chc4 wrote: post #26
resource_waste wrote: post #16

Oh look Apple devices were hacked again . Security through obscurity isnt really working out. Their big cash apparently isnt enough. I have sensitive data on my phone that I must carry around, and there is no way I'd ever keep it on an iphone. 'Pegasus' was the moment corporations and governments should have banned iphones for their terrible security.

Are you somehow under the impression that Android devices aren't hacked as well?

Of course Android phones are hacked as well

But a hack on my Andriod device might, or might not, work on your Android device

Not so much iPhones. Some difference between versions, but pretty much a monoculture

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