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Hacking Lawyers or Journalists Is Totally Fine, Says Notorious Cyberweapons Firm (gizmodo.com)
The founder and CEO of NSO Group, the notorious Israeli hacking company with customers around the world, appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes Sunday night to defend the use of his company's tools in hacking and spying on lawyers, journalists, and minors when the country's customers determine the ends justify the means. From a report: NSO Group has reportedly sold hacking tools to dictators including those in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and across Central Asia -- a group of decision-makers whose track record includes numerous examples of human rights abuses and oppression of dissent. NSO's tools have been directly involved in the arrest of human rights activists and, in Mexico at least, spying on lawyers and journalists in an effort to catch the drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. "In order to catch El Chapo, for example, they had to intercept a journalist, an actress, and a lawyer," NSO Group founder Shalev Hulio told 60 minutes. "Now, by themselves, they are not criminals, right? But if they are in touch with a drug lord and in order to catch them, you need to intercept them, that's a decision an intelligence agency should get."
Funny how the very countries which are suppressing freedom of speech and freedom of religion are being supported in their efforts by a country which Christians support without reservation. It's almost as if they're blind to their support of this repression while at the same time complaining about the repression.
And don't forget, your tax dollars are going to a country which has its own version of apartheid.
I guess for a few pieces of silver it's easy to abandon ones principles.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
I'm sick of the dry, typical polls Slashdot has these days, I say these are they types of questions people search after :D
These same justifications are used to undermine police, journalists, rule of law, and human rights where these capabilities are exported casually by Israeli/US companies. One undermined like this, laws have no meaning.
Constitutions included
Carpet bombing New York out of existence would reduce crime there. Who gets to decide if the ends justify the means?
If the ends is I am rich instead of poor, I could decide robbing from the rich or a bank is justified.
Turning Israel (and/or anywhere else they have an office) into a smoking crater to be sure NSO is obliterated could make the world a better place. Is that not worth it?
thinks being a sleazebag is totally cool yo.
Good self knowledge. If you want your cunt to die, just let Trump put his mishapen mushroom tip in. Nothing will ever grow there again. Problem solved GOP, get fucked.
"Notorious cyberweapons firm" is getting pwned in 3..2..1..
This person has not even the decency to be minimally ashamed for his hugely negative contribution to the human endeavor. That is the face of tomorrow, if we do not stop it. That is the kind of person that would have done really well in the 3rd Reich. That is, if he had made it past the race laws.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
And they get away with anything at all. Because they're hackers, hacking, with hacks!
It's interesting to see the justifications made by a culture that lives under the constant threat of annihilation and what it does to your morals.
Still crying? lol
Just saying.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Criticism of Israel's governmental mistakes and missteps is Patriotism. Anyone who pretends otherwise is a cowardly traitor who doesn't deserve representative government (and is probably the actual anti-Semite, as Trump's base)
especially when we know the historical jesus never existed
mind controlling american's is as easy as american pie. Americans are one level dumber than Christians.
National spokesperson for the democratic party and their hate of Jews. Remember folks, you see this hatred here daily.
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
This has nothing to do with religion, other than the apparent Trumptarded religious-esque belief that Likud=IRGUN can do no wrong. The fact is the current Israeli government has roots in a terrorist group.
You would be hard pressed to find ANYTHING that mentions Israel's human rights abuses in a mainstream US news outlet - and NEVER on Fox News. ANYTHING negative about Israel doesn't appear much around here.
Obama wanted to put limits on settlements and he was lambasted for it and called antisemitic.
We Americans have this distorted view of Israel and it's lead down a path to folly that isn't recoverable. We are now in a perpetual war in part because of Israel. It is draining our coffers and creating ever more animosity towards us.
Part of the problem is Evangelical Christians in the USA. THEY are the ones with the retarded view of Israel because of their moronic interpretation of Christianity.
They are some stupid some-bitches and unfortunately, they control the Republican Party - hence their idiocy.
^ Found the excuse-making nazi coward who advocates undermining rule of law and human rights for "righteous revenge" lol? Idiot, Israel is under less of a threat of being "wiped" off the map than your fiscally insolvent red state.
You kids with your broken fractional logic and your endless whining and straw men.
Grow up already.
The hatred is justified and animosity very well earned.
Go mutilate your penis for your mutilated penis god
"EVIL GOVERNMENT USING EVIL COMPANY TECH TO CATCH BIG CRIMINALS!!! Why don't you protest EVIL GOVERNMENT people??? Help us self-appointed "PRIVACY ADVOCATES/WATCHDOGS" (AKA ANTI-GOVERNMENT ANARCHISTS) to stop EVIL GOVERNMENT by turning whole internet to DARK WEB!!! HELP US PROTECT ALL INNOCENT CRIMINALS FROM EVIL GOVERNMENT!!! PS: Always wear thinfoil hats because EVIL GOVERNMENT trying to read/control your mind!!!"
I suppose if they don't discriminate and sell their nasty wares to the whomever wishes to buy, then at least they're consistent scumwads!
He spoken to nearly any body that he has no money that he has earned at all. He makes not one computer network or device to him self aloud at all.
^ See : Traitor pgmrdlm the nutless nazi coward who secretly hates jews and thinks nobody notices his white supremacist inbred faggot victim club.
That's factual. Nyutty-yahoo just casually declared that "only jews" are citizens of Israel now. That cements him as a military occupier, and makes his bullshit about pretending to seek peace for 2-3 decades as 100% bullshit.
Likud is a terrorist organization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun
Once that history is known, everything else falls into place.
Fuck those zionist cunts.
Really? Treason AND hacking? MISUSE of people's data? It will end BADLY. And only YOU will feel PAIN in the END!
In order to catch El Chapo, for example, they had to intercept a journalist, an actress, and a lawyer," NSO Group founder Shalev Hulio told 60 minutes. "Now, by themselves, they are not criminals, right? But if they are in touch with a drug lord and in order to catch them, you need to intercept them, that's a decision an intelligence agency should get."
Except this isn't intelligence work, it's law enforcement, and NSO group isn't an intelligence agency, they're a for-profit company.
If you want to limit interception to requiring a court order, issued by a judge in a country with restrictions on spying that take privacy and something akin to 5th amendment rights into account, I think very few people would oppose that. I sort of doubt that intercepting communications from people not involved in criminal activity would qualify under those restrictions, and I don't think they should. The point though is that you need some sort of force to counter-balance this vast surveillance power.
Being able to spy on just anyone without restriction is the tool of tyrants, not free and democratic societies.
> Funny how the very countries which are suppressing freedom of speech and freedom of religion are being supported in their efforts by a country which Christians support without reservation.
Which ones, exactly? Most of those I know hate the oil addiction that has us sucking up to a barbaric regime like SA and politicians of all stripes love to point out how awful SA is--when they're out of power--only to forget once they're in power due to the massive amount of cash and oil they control. I doubt you can find many who support them "without reservation" on any side, though.
> And don't forget, your tax dollars are going to a country which has its own version of apartheid.
And which owns literal slaves. No, I don't support that, either, thank you. I don't like them but I don't know what to do about them and dislike the thought of blowing them up to "fix" the situation (see also: Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.). So feel free to suggest solutions here, but just for the record, don't go around lying about how only the other side supports SA. They have plenty of support from politicians on all sides (and little, if any, support from the public at large). Nobody has proposed any good solutions just yet, though getting us independent from oil as a power source would be a good start...
Pure coincidence, goy. Now send us another 38 billion.
...lawyers, journalists, and the guardians of minors should understand that there's not some magical sacred boundary protecting them from what EVERYONE ELSE is vulnerable to.
I mean, they never SHOULD have considered themselves in any way inviolate, but knowing both some lawyers and journalists, they're both professions that think rather highly of their own importance, so perhaps the reminder is useful?
What's next, telling politicians that they're not special?
-Styopa
Watched 60 minutes interview last night. It was hard to watch.. At one point Shalev did the whole evil laugh thing while uttering something about not believing the newspapers.
To me personally it isn't a shock or surprise to find grey hats selling their souls for money. Personally I've never believed in the existence of any meaningful distinction between grey and black hats to begin with. What is much harder to fathom was why Shalev was allowed to get anywhere near a camera in the first place.
As someone that is presently in Ukraine, and has been to Russia, and Belarus, over the past week, I can tell you that there is no universal definition of "totally fine." To present one in some course of action is to presume that your definition of "totally fine" is the acceptable one (totally fine), which presupposes that all other definitions are incorrect.
This line of reasoning is very similar to the case of when your neighbor is morbidly obese, and going to die from their lifestyle choices, and you decide to do something about it. So, the next time you see your neighbor eating a donut, and drinking a delicious beer, you decide to kick in his door, and knock that crap out of his hand. Maybe you slap him in the face a few times, so he'll learn a lesson. Then, in addition to this, you also decide to use your influence to make it illegal for third parties (in this case, Israelis) to sell him donuts and beer. Since he lives in the same block as you, and that kind of stuff isn't all right.
This is effectively American foreign policy.
There might be some problems associated with selling dictatorships the tools to repress their populations. Just as there are definitely some problems with being sedentary, eating crap, and watching t.v. / posting on slashdot all day. But guess what? The United States is not in control of Israel, or of those dictatorships, and should not act as the world's police, in order to project our values onto an unwilling audience.
Maybe we could lead by example, and not use hacking tools domestically, as a starting point? Like, you know, not eating donuts, drinking beer, and being sedentary, ourselves, before we tell other people how to live. That might be a better path.
Lets outlaw encryption and sell our cyber warfare tools.
The crime here is both the apathy of the public and politician alike. 60-minutes is trying to educate, to prevent this mentality. Hulio the CEO of NSO lack of compassion for fellow human being speaks volumes.
You are aware that several diseases can be transmitted through tears. I would suggest stopping the practice of tasting Leftist tears.
-- Just a friendly public service announcement.
why does das drumpenfuhrer support jews then?
If this Israeli company figures it's OK for pretty much anybody to be collateral damage for an investigation they are supporting, then they should also figure out that the death of a few Israelis to achieve a goal is a perfectly OK thing, right?
Sorry, but if you as a company/human have decided that damage to other people in pursuit of a goal is OK, then you have signed up you, your company, and the people you believe you are protecting for the same thing.
Why does it always sound like these Israeli companies are happy to do things which harm other people while insisting that Israel should be safe? They'll sell to any dictator and asshole.
When you sell such tools to people who don't give a fuck who they harm in the process ... you don't get to claim some moral high ground or be outraged when someone decides that you and your people can be collateral damage.
I have no issues with Jews any more than any other group -- but as a group, the entire country of Isreal feels entitled to do as they please without recourse, and I'm afraid it's hard to have sympathy for them in general.
Israelis should be pretty low on the list of people we shoud listen to to tell us what is OK or not, ethically.
Hacking Team in Italy
NSO Group in Israel
Both selling to dictators, authoritarian governments law enforcement. How many companies like these exist in other countries?
Still crying? lol
Wait 'til you see how much they cry when he wins again in 2020!
And I'm saying that as a German Jew.
Seriously, my grandparents, one of which died in a concentration camp, would be the very first to condemn Israel for what it is.
Funny, how Jesus's main point was, that you should *not* harm others, even if, and especially if, they harmed you. For you would end up being just the same. And what did we learn? Nothing. We hung him. --.--
To me, humans are still a loong way away from being a developed, let alone "sapiens"-deserving, species.
>The United States is not in control of Israel, or of those dictatorships, and should not act as the world's police, in order to project our values onto an unwilling audience.
That may be a good ideal - but the U.S. helped create the modern nation of Israel from the spoils of WWII, and we keep it afloat via ongoing funding and military support. That makes us personally responsible for their actions. If we don't like what they're doing, we should stop supporting them. But we like having a consistently loyal location for military bases in the middle of the Middle East, and indirect genocide and other dirty dealings of all kinds are our military's stock in trade, so nothing is likely to change so long as the oil deposits in the region remain valuable.
>This is effectively American foreign policy.
No, it really isn't. America's foreign policy has nothing to do with spreading our values, and everything to do with expanding our power and influence. We routinely aid in the overthrowing of uncooperative democracies in order to install totalitarian dictators that will further those goals, and look the other way as the governments we support engage in genocide and other atrocities (just look at what we allowed from Saddam Hussein after we installed him in power - it wasn't until he stopped cooperating that we finally replaced him.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
The whole country is based on the idea that it's fine to take someone's home off them because of some 2500 year-old bullshit myths. Spying on kids is small beer.
I have no reason or desire to buy any products or services from any company in Israel.
I would not mind this tactic if it was used on some of the more brutal governments in this world but have reservations about using it on common criminals and drug lords. In the US we desperately need to know about all kinds of things going on in government. But considering our being the greatest nation in regards to putting people in jails and prisons, the huge economic divide and racial issues we just might be classified as one of the brutal nations. We do not even have a legitimate president in office.
" America's foreign policy has nothing to do with spreading our values..."
I don't totally agree with this; America has a long history of attempting to spread values. This isn't entirely altruistic; America benefits from having a world dominated by like-minded countries. However the great bulk of this activity is clearly on the side of angels.
The problem is, America also has a long history of insisting upon action. "We are outraged at X, and we are going to Do Something about X". In this realm there is a stark dichotomy of situations. Lots of supporting dictators, multiple instances of toppling democracies, CIA dirty tricks, lots of seedy activity. And endless instances of great and good deeds, large and small.
Winston Churchill said it best. "You have to love the Americans; you know they are going to do the right thing. After having exhausted every other possibility!"
uncooperative democracies in order to install totalitarian dictators that will further those goals
Unless it's about just limiting geographic reach of the Soviet Union, in which case lighting up the "African World War" is just fine result if the nationalistic democratically elected leaders who mistakenly decided to be neutral are dealt with the support of the local rebels or mercenaries. In the case of Afghanistan, the leave them sort themselves attitude still remained partially and the Jihadists were left with idle hands and heads. Idle things are easy to tilt towards the bad things as we have all seen.
Tell you what, let me know when we finally get around to doing the right thing - I haven't seen it yet.
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
Thing is that for much of the early history of Israel the USA did not provide military aid. In fact it was only the selling of advanced fighter aircraft to Iraq by the USSR in 1962 that it started to do so. The major turning point was the Six-Day War of 1967, with the nail in the coffin being the Yon Kippur war in 1973. Up until that point the main source of arms was France.
Much of the continuing support is because Israel is a fantastic test bed for new weapon technologies in actual combat operations. Where else do you get to test a missile defense system like Iron Dome for example?
If you or I did what NSO Group is doing, we would have the FBI breaking down our door. Yet because NSO is a well-connected "business" in Israel, US laws do not apply to them even at times when they are operating within the USA.
Furthermore, the CEO of NSO refused to answer whether NSO malware was used to facilitate the Khashoggi murder. Strange bedfellows, if the Saudis bought malware from an Israeli company to kill a Saudi journalist based in the USA.