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."

Comments

We support these criminals?

[smooth wombat]

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.

Re:We support these criminals?

[mlw4428]

Quit voting for Republicans then.

Re:We support these criminals?

[Anonymous Coward]

"There are many, many Christians who have serious problems with Israel's human rights record. We do not unanimously support Israel." AND JEWS ALSO, one might be forced to add as if omitted...

Israel's government is not the seat of Judaism. Israel's record of human rights abuses ongoing undermines any US legitimacy as our "allies" undermine our positions on human rights efforts worldwide.

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.

Once you understand that history, such questions become much less black and white. Israel's government is not some white knight in a world of human rights abuses, the opposite is becoming truer by the day.

Re:We support these criminals?

[jellomizer]

International relations is very complex. The reason why we have different countries, is because there are different areas of the world that wants to be ruled and rule differently then others. Also every country seems to do something that everyone else will find immoral, wrong, or just pure evil.

The cost of peace is to allow evil. Otherwise we will be dictating our version of good (with our own evil) onto people by force. Which tends to not be welcomed, often is expensive, and prevents further common goods to be followed.

The cost of freedom, means we sometimes will need to allow criminals to go unpunished. Not because we support the criminals, but because we value our freedoms so much that we do not want such extra measures used against us. When people say they are willing to risk their lives for freedom, they are often thinking going to war to protect it. But often we need people to risk their lives in protecting the freedom even though such freedom makes their lives more dangerous, and unsafe.

Re:We support these criminals?

[sjames]

The problem here is not a live and let live attitude, the problem is when we provide material support.

Re:We support these criminals?

[eaglesrule]

International relations is very complex. The reason why we have different countries, is because there are different areas of the world that wants to be ruled and rule differently then others. Also every country seems to do something that everyone else will find immoral, wrong, or just pure evil.

We have different countries because of the balance of military powers. Many times in history those conquered were forced to adapt to the dominant culture, or die.

The cost of peace is to allow evil. Otherwise we will be dictating our version of good (with our own evil) onto people by force. Which tends to not be welcomed, often is expensive, and prevents further common goods to be followed.

We tolerate evil because all too often it is the profitable and self serving thing to do. For example, we couldn't care less about the cannibal warlords of Liberia, but Syria's leader is a brutal dictator who needs to be removed. Evil is the excuse, not the reason, for many geopolitical actions.

The cost of freedom, means we sometimes will need to allow criminals to go unpunished. Not because we support the criminals, but because we value our freedoms so much that we do not want such extra measures used against us. When people say they are willing to risk their lives for freedom, they are often thinking going to war to protect it. But often we need people to risk their lives in protecting the freedom even though such freedom makes their lives more dangerous, and unsafe.

That sounds nice and reasonable, but I'm not sure what that has to do with the US becoming a vassal state to Israel. I mean, there has to be a reason why all our candidates for POTUS have to go before AIPAC to confess their undying love just in order to be electable. There has to be a reason why we tithe billions of dollars to a small foreign state who we protect militarily at great expense, instead of the other way around. Then there's the rampant industrial espionage activity by Mossad that seems to go unchecked. Something tells me that all of this has nothing to do with preserving freedom.

Re:We support these criminals?

[WaffleMonster]

Proof of this? Seriously, I have seen this presented as "fact" without any actual proof.

Hafrada

I have a friend in Israel. He has Muslim friends, and tells me that one of his friends won't get an Israeli citizenship -- because if he does, he will not be allowed into many neighboring countries, like Syria.

Hell your screwed if you merely have an Israeli stamp on your passport.

Yes, the Palestinians have a rough time. But that is because they keep on trying to kill Jews. What do you expect, for the Jews to just say "murder as many of us as you want?"

If some other country say China was occupying my country and exerting colonial rule, stealing property and shit.. I would probably be building rockets too.

What sealed the deal for me on this permanently was the asymmetry. In a single hour of military maneuvers Israelis managed to kill more people than the combined sum of deaths from ALL rocket attacks on Israel in modern history.

Re:We support these criminals?

[eaglesrule]

The US doesn't need Isreal in the ME to stir the pot when there's Saudi Arabia. Not only does SA buy US arms, they're bombing Yemen right now. As the head of OPAC, they ensure that the money printing presses keep running thanks to the petrodollar. What exactly is the symbiotic relationship with Israel, other than to outsource intelligence ops that would make our own CIA blush?

It is all a game of checks-and-balances to keep the world just enough on the edge of stability but always teetering with the threat of war/terrorism that can only be solved with US support. This is how colonialism works post WW2. That is why we need such overwhelming firepower in our military so no one can come even close to challenging us.

Que bono. The military industrial complex is just as happy to take US taxpayer money as it is from foreign countries. Protecting the entire European continent from a single country that only has the GDP of Texas? That's some sweet pork. The US DoD spends as much as the rest of the planet combined, with twice as many aircraft carrier fleets than there are oceans. Defense contractors don't care if it costs 500 billion a year or more to service US debt, and our reps in government love to bring home the bacon.

That's why we 'need' such overwhelming military power. As a side bonus, we get to crush any non-nuclear countries that dare to poke the eye of the global financial hegemony. Iraq discovered this, as did Libya, so too Syria, and soon will Venezuela.

Re:We support these criminals?

[harrkev]

What sealed the deal for me on this permanently was the asymmetry. In a single hour of military maneuvers Israelis managed to kill more people than the combined sum of deaths from ALL rocket attacks on Israel in modern history.

But you forgot one thing. Israel does not TRY to target civilians. They go after the headquarters of the people launching the rockets. Palestinians are just happy to kill any Jews. Civilians are perfectly fine targets.

If some other country say China was occupying my country and exerting colonial rule, stealing property and shit.. I would probably be building rockets too.

But if we tried to wipe out China, and they got our property in the ensuing war, we deserve what we get.

I am STILL waiting for any proof of an apartheid state in Israel. Over there, the different religious groups tend to get along quite well. The murder rate in Israel itself if lower than it is in the US. There is not the equivalent of "whites only" areas over there (except for some areas controlled by Muslims, but you can't blame the Jews for that).

So, proof, please. Any at all. I will wait.

It is rare to see true, unashamed evil

[gweihir]

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.

Re:Can we poll this /. ?

[DickBreath]

Is it okay to hack:
[_] Lawyers
[_] Journalists
[x] Both Lawyers and Journalists
[_] Cowboy Neil

Israelis don't know the first thing about ethics

[reanjr]

Israelis should be pretty low on the list of people we shoud listen to to tell us what is OK or not, ethically.

Re:Click Bait Title + No Universal Definition of "

[Immerman]

>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.