This week, Jody and Jerry discuss recent revelations regarding the use of Pegasus spyware and the implications for privacy. This advanced form of spyware, developed by Israeli company NSO Group, is licensed only to nation states through an export license from the Israeli Ministry of Defense for the purpose of combating terrorism and criminal activity. According to NSO’s CEO, its technology is not provided to private companies. However, neither the company nor the Israeli government claim to monitor the use of the technology by state actors to whom it is licensed. The Pegasus Project, consisting of more than 80 journalists from 17 news organizations in more than 10 countries, has been investigating the use of the technology by governments and has been working through a list of 50,000 cell phones of journalists, activists, dissidents, individuals, cabinet members, and government officials reportedly monitored by the technology. The privacy implications of their reports have raised serious concerns in the media and governments around the globe, including the EU and U.S. Congress. What role these reports might play in raising awareness of privacy issues in Congress or causing it to focus on the need to develop a national data privacy and security law remains to be seen, but they clearly highlight the privacy dangers in the digital age and the need for government oversight.
*****
Contact us:
Jerry Buckley | jbuckley@buckleyfirm.com
Jody Westby | westby@globalcyberrisk.com
ADCG | info@adcg.org