Zack Beauchamp, Jenn Williams, and Jen Kirby discuss the explosive revelations that a number of governments around the world, from Saudi Arabia to Hungary to India, have been using military-grade spyware made by an Israeli firm to secretly hack into the phones of journalists, activists, and political opponents. They explore what we know about the NSO Group, the Israeli company who sold this software; what the technology does; how governments may have used it to spy on critics; and what all of this tells us about the rise of digital authoritarianism.

References:

The Pegasus Project uncovers the potential abuse of NSO Group spyware

The major takeaways from the investigation, according to the Washington Post

And the revelations keep on coming

Hungarian journalists had spyware on their phones

And so did a top rival of India’s prime minister

The Pegasus investigation puts Israel in an uncomfortable position

US and EU officials suspect links between NSO Group and Israeli intelligence

Israel’s defense ministry says “appropriate action” will be taken if NSO violated export permits

Steven Feldstein’s book, The Rise of Digital Repression (and listen to Zack’s interview!)

Israel considered using NSO Group to help track the coronavirus

Hosts:

Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, Vox

Jennifer Williams (@jenn_ruth), senior foreign editor, Vox

iSpy

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