Which nation would benefit from those infections?
Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
61–70 of 362 posts
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Geopolitically they both hate iran. Culturally both are fairly similar - both are "western"-style democracies (e.g. representative democracies with constitutions that value rule of law, independent judiciary, etc) And, the following might be controversial - but many of americas strategic allies do much worse shit than israel, they just get called out on it less. Hell, Saudi arabia is literally murdering people in emb…
it'd also be good to mention that there exists a strong, largely right-wing and evangelical, pro-Israeli lobby in the US that make it politically very costly to not demonstrate unequivocal support
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Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#63Slightly OT - Isn't it obvious that NSO must be able to control every "copy" of Pegasus it sells? They wouldn't sell it unless they were absolutely sure it wouldn't be used against its own people and they have no problem selling to their arch enemies. NSO's defense has always been "we just sell the tech and can't be held responsible for what our clients do with it" (this was clear from the Darknet Diaries episode). I…
> (this was clear from the Darknet Diaries episode) think that episode also mentioned it iirc ... that the plausible deniability goes out the window the minute they host their own infrastructure. also NSO Group goes through great length to obscure who they're selling to using shell and shelf companies. actually indistinguishable from how narco terrorists and organized crime operates: https://forensicnews.net/the-cove…
(which is because organized crime is indistinguishable from general business)
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#64Seriously, every Pegasus-related news slightly killing the Apple "privacy" myth. And this is good 'cause we deserve better mobile solutions than the strange duopoly, where one company pays $9B to another for the right to mining private data.
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#65To be fair, it is quite murky to what extent groups like Al-Haq are associated with the PFLP (which, with its history of aircraft hijackings and suicide bombings, is undoubtedly a terrorist group). There is plenty of purported evidence of financial and personnel links out there, and I really doubt HN is the right forum to decide either way (unless someone is an expert).
Al-Haq is a Palestinian human rights NGO funded by the European Union. Two weeks ago, Israel labeled six Palestinian NGOs, including al-Haq, terrorist organizations and has outlawed them. This was condemned by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others. The EU also funded the other Palestinian human rights NGOs which Israel outlawed.
The US had an office in Jerusalem dealing with Palestinians that Trump closed down. Biden and Blinken began to reopen it but the Israeli government have refused permission for the US to reopen it.
This is following Israel's throwing Palestinians out of their homes in East Jerusalem back in May and replacing them with settlers, which was followed by a mass bombing of the Gaza strip by Israel, including the building in which the Associated Press had its office, a building Israel said it purposely targeted.
This amidst settlement of Palestine's West Bank by Israel which is opposed by multiple UN resolutions supported by an overwhelming majority of nations.
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that it's mostly interests rather than electoral politics, though there's a certain amount of the latter as well (and Israel have invested heavily in public diplomacy programmes to try to keep their stock high in that regard). It's worth noting that one of the other closest allies of the US/UK in the region is Saudi Arabia, who nobody would describe as 'politically moderate' or close in values.
There clearly aren't a lot of good bedfellows to be had in the region. US engagement in ME politics is rife with contradictions and blind self-interest, as are political calculations in the EU, China, or anywhere else with enough reach to matter. When you have to weigh blood, oil, military projection, and short-term regional influence in a unpredictable region, it's hard to see anyone as being on the right side of an…
> But it's as necessary with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, and Palestine as it is with Israel.
If Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Palestine have reasons to hate each other, then why intervene? It's not like backing one side will stop the conflicts and bring peace as recent history showed us.
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#67Seriously, every Pegasus-related news slightly killing the Apple "privacy" myth. And this is good 'cause we deserve better mobile solutions than the strange duopoly, where one company pays $9B to another for the right to mining private data.
People have warned against paternalistic OS from the start. It might be too late for now.
You have an advertising ID on your phone and it scans your images because you are a suspect with limited control over you device.
To be honest, on bad days I just think people don't deserve anything better. The amount of free work people have put into alternatives is incredible, but there certainly was a refusal to think ahead.
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#68Something is changing in the US though. > The US Commerce Department is unequivocal that the new sanctions against NSO Group and Candiru is connected to their software being used to government officials, journalists, activists and business people. [0] https://twitter.com/AlexMartin/status/1455892710586519553
It's rather difficult to say what prompted this. First intuition would be that it has something to do with NSO not giving backdoor access to certain US organizations, but it could be an actual political shift away from supporting stuff as murky as this.
It could also just be a distraction from domestic apps that do the exact same thing. Good to have a fall guy and it creates a pretense that these apps cross a line which is ignored by domestic actions anyway.
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#69Slightly OT - Isn't it obvious that NSO must be able to control every "copy" of Pegasus it sells? They wouldn't sell it unless they were absolutely sure it wouldn't be used against its own people and they have no problem selling to their arch enemies. NSO's defense has always been "we just sell the tech and can't be held responsible for what our clients do with it" (this was clear from the Darknet Diaries episode). I…
> (this was clear from the Darknet Diaries episode) think that episode also mentioned it iirc ... that the plausible deniability goes out the window the minute they host their own infrastructure. also NSO Group goes through great length to obscure who they're selling to using shell and shelf companies. actually indistinguishable from how narco terrorists and organized crime operates: https://forensicnews.net/the-cove…
Not wanting to defend NSO, but I guess that is common business practice for any supplier of surveillance software for state actors. Remember how loud they cried when people leaked about their monitoring? Such dealing are meant to be intransparent and states create the market.
Re: Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you would if you don't rely on vulgarism, so please shoot.
> I don't think you would if you don't rely on vulgarism, so please shoot. Define vulgarism in this context? The non-PC answer would be ethnic nepotism and corrupting influence through AIPAC and ADL. Jews are heavily overrepresented throughout every circle of power and influence (media, academia, business, politics) and trying to reign in Israel would mean going against that entrenched jewish power block which any pr…
White men are also overrepresented throughout every circle of power and influence in America (and their corrupting ethnic nepotism is well-established), and Jewish people don't use whatever power they have any more than any other ethnic, social, or religious group. Just a reminder, antisemitism is the belief that "the Jews" secretly pull the levers of power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism#Definition