In the United States we have the National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA collects all available metadata on almost all electronic devices worldwide that can be reached. Access to that database underpins the “Fourth Branch of Government,” the most powerful branch, the U.S. Intelligence Branch.
In addition to a global scraping of metadata, the NSA also collects the domestic private information of all Americans. This was the essential background story that NSA Contractor Edward Snowden broke several years ago. We now know this to be an accepted fact.
The United States internal political debate shifted from ‘should they do this’ to ‘how can we manage the people who do this‘?
The results over the last ten years of trying to manage the exploitation of this database have been a case study in failure.
Year after year, the NSA admits their control over the database is structurally flawed, essentially non-existent. The fourth amendment protections of U.S. citizens have been erased, and now even U.S. government contractors are using the NSA database to monitor whoever and whatever they want. Again, I repeat: ‘The Fourth Branch of government is a public-private partnership”.
However, beyond domestic exploitation, the NSA database is presumably only used by, accessed by and available to, the foreign allies that make up the “Five Eyes” partners. The U.S., U.K, Australia, Canada and New Zealand make up the allies within the Five Eyes intelligence apparatus. These allies have access to the same NSA database as U.S. operatives.
Putting aside how the NSA database is exploited inside the U.S. for a moment – if you are a government outside the Five Eyes system; and you wanted to spy on your own citizens and political enemies the way the NSA conducts surveillance on its own citizens; you would need some other access point to spy on your opposition. That’s where an Israeli company called NSO comes into the picture. {Guardian Report}
NSO creates tech software, spyware, that allows governments to spy on cell phones.
As the Guardian notes, [NSO] “sells surveillance technology to governments worldwide. Its flagship product is Pegasus, spying software – or spyware – that targets iPhones and Android devices. Once a phone is infected, a Pegasus operator can secretly extract chats, photos, emails and location data, or activate microphones and cameras without a user knowing.”
Due to the nature of the product they sell, NSO works with the Israeli government to vet the purchaser of the spyware they sell.
The Pegasus’ cell phone surveillance technology is a tool for governments who cannot build out the technology on their own, and they do not have access to the NSA database. Pegasus is marketed as an alternative to data collection that allows the government agency to specifically target individual cell phones and spy on what that phone is doing.
Returning to the Guardian report, “Claudio Guarnieri, who runs Amnesty International’s Security Lab, said once a phone was infected with Pegasus, a client of NSO could in effect take control of a phone, enabling them to extract a person’s messages, calls, photos and emails, secretly activate cameras or microphones, and read the contents of encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.”
The Guardian, and a group of allied leftists in media, has been granted access to a leaked massive batch of 50,000 phone numbers that the Pegasus software was operating in. [Likely some Bradley Manning type leftist in the Israeli government leaked the information (my guess)] As a result, the media are going through the phone numbers to determine: (1) who was targeted; and (2) by whom? Many journalists are on the list [READ FULL ARTICLE].
As you read the article keep something in mind. The leftists doing the investigation, ie. “The Pegasus Project”, are quick to point out foreign governments they oppose who purchased the Pegasus software (Poland, Hungary, Mexico etc). The spin from the Guardian is that brutal governments are using the Pegasus spyware to monitor, track and even target for assassination enemies and journalists; as well as just monitor their domestic political opposition.
What the Pegasus group is claiming might actually be correct and true; however, I find myself shrugging at the incredulity they attempt to drum-up while simultaneously ignoring the fact the United States Government, via the NSA, has been doing this for years and it doesn’t seem like anyone cares.
President Trump was under almost every kind of intelligence surveillance including exploitation of the NSA database for years, even during his term in office. The Guardian didn’t care and all the leftists on the Pegasus Project didn’t flinch an inch….
The U.S, U.K, Australia, New Zealand and Canada do it all the time. However, as soon as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), start doing it…. well, hell, the leftist media light their hair on fire.
Hypocrisy much?
Oh, wait, that’s right…. ‘Ideology much’.
