Amid political crisis, Tunisia’s Saied targets his critics online
There’s new evidence that the U.S. government is using NSO Group’s surveillance tools. We already know about the FBI’s purchase of NSO’s infamous Pegasus spyware back in 2019. But this week, documents reviewed by the New York Times showed that the Israeli surveillance tech giant went under contract in 2021 with a company called Riva Networks that was operating as a front for the U.S. government. This gave government agents — the documents don’t disclose what agency or department they worked with — access to a geolocation tool built by NSO that would allow agents to track anyone through their mobile device, without their knowledge.
White House staff say they knew nothing of it before the Times’ story and that the contract — which appears to remain active — stands in violation of U.S. Commerce Department sanctions. The revelations shouldn’t be surprising — there have been other clues about NSO working its way into U.S. government contracts. And they make the Biden administration’s recent ban on commercial spyware look like quite the toothless tiger.
Maybe Pegasus isn’t really so bad? The Indian government says it is a “PR problem,” more than anything else. Last week, the Financial Times reported that officials at India’s Ministry of Defense put out a tender for new spyware, with the express intention of contracting with a surveillance technology company that is “less controversial” than NSO Group. They are willing to pay up to $120 million for it. Pegasus has been found on the devices of journalists, human rights defenders and opposition politicians in countries around the world, including India. When Coda’s podcast team dug into the use of Pegasus in India, we talked with 16 Indian lawyers and activists, many involved in representing Dalit and indigenous communities, whose phones were infected with the spyware. Soon afterward, they were accused of plotting to bring down the Modi government. For a compelling look at the real-life effects of this technology, give this episode a listen.
There will be likely digital ramifications to Uganda’s new law criminalizing homosexuality. Although same-sex relationships have long been outlawed in Uganda, the country’s new Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which is almost sure to pass, will criminalize LGBTQ identity itself. It also covers a host of actions associated with LGBTQ people’s rights, including the act of “promoting” or speaking about LGBTQ issues in both traditional and digital media. Journalists in the country are taking note. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, a reporter who wished to remain anonymous suggested that the law will make it nearly impossible to cover topics affecting LGBTQ communities. “It is like they are telling us to leave them: don't touch them,” she said.