Posted on 07/28/2022 6:18:46 AM PDT by FarCenter
Google and internet rights groups have called on Congress to weigh in on spyware, asking for sanctions and increased enforcement against so-called legit surveillanceware makers.
During an open House Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, US lawmakers heard testimony from Citizen Lab senior researcher John Scott-Railton; Shane Huntley, who leads Google's Threat Analysis Group; and Carine Kanimba, whose father was the inspiration for Hotel Rwanda and who was, herself, targeted by Pegasus spyware.
This, of course, is the now-infamous malware that its developer, Israel's NSO Group, claims is only sold to legitimate government agencies — not private companies or individuals. Once installed on a victim's device, Pegasus can, among other things, secretly snoop on that person's calls, messages, and other activities, and access their phone's camera without permission.
NSO also claims the software can only be used "for the purpose of preventing and investigating terrorism and other serious crimes," despite numerous reports from Citizen Lab, Google, and the media of Pegasus being used to spy on journalists, activists, and politicians by their opponents.
Earlier this year, European lawmakers opened an inquiry into spyware in general, and Pegasus more specifically, after the malware was reportedly found on cellphones associated with the UK and Spanish prime ministers, Spain's defense minister, and dozens of Catalan politicians and members of civil society groups.
But despite cracking down on the notorious Israeli outfit last year, America has been slow to counter Pegasus and similar software being used to eavesdrop on its people. And, in fact, US military contractor L3Harris reportedly was ready to buy NSO Group until the White House raised concerns.
In recent days, the House Intelligence Committee has taken steps toward prohibiting cyber espionage and even sanction foreign governments that use it to target Americans.
Last week the panel advanced a bill that would prohibit US intelligence agencies from acquiring and using foreign spyware, block contracts with US companies that invest in any such foreign technology, and give the president authority to sanction snoopware developers, their execs, and other governments using the software against American officials.
And General Flynn was right in the middle of Pegasus.
Anyone with Amazon Alexa in their place is foolish to complain about spyware.
Didn’t the Nazi Klaus Schwab say the next thing to happen will be a massive cyber attack
Google weighing in on online spying?
What a laugh. Pot meet kettle.
Supposedly, according to mostly left-leaning sites. Either they are lying, or right-leaning sites have avoided the issue.
/bingo
Google doesn’t want to be spied on.
And the House of s going to stop it, eh? That’s hilarious.
Google wants to protect its own substantial revenue stream that is derived from spying.
Translation: the US government wants exclusive rights to spy on its citizens.
Google calling out surveillance and spyware?
That’s rich.
Fixed it.
Exactly.😖
Google is government spyware. Unfortunately I am stuck with a android phone for a while. I was listening to Dan Bongino on the phone. All sorts of strange things were happening. When I looked at it the google “assistant” (which I had turned off) was transcribing everything. Also, that very same day, I was helping my mother with software on her brand new phone. I put it down on the coffee table when done. After a while it too had been transcribing everything we were talking about and running all sorts of back ground apps then reinstalled all the social media crap (facebook, twitter, etc.) without any input from we lowly humans.
um... yeah
You are exactly right. People foolish enough to use that deserve whatever personal information gets stolen. That’s why I keep all my personal information, as much as possible, is stored locally and never on the Internet and especially not on my phone!
Even the Alexa box laughed at that one. :^)
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