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Showing posts from March 11, 2019

Buyer beware: The Israeli company helping governments spy on their own citizens

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Buyer beware: The Israeli company helping governments spy on their own citizens Monday March 11 th , 2019  at  10:24 AM 1 Share By enabling governments to hack their citizens' phones, an Israeli cyber security firm has arguably made the world more dangerous for human rights activists fighting against corporate and state impunity As smartphones have proliferated over the past few years and become indispensable communication tools for all of us, startups dedicated to hacking these phones on behalf of governments – including military, intelligence and police departments – have also multiplied. Clients of these startups use the new technology to surveil criminals and terrorists in order to detect and disrupt their plans. That’s a legitimate use. But there are others that are much more lucrative for the companies – and much less palatable for open societies. Take the example Emirati human rights activist, Ahmed Mansoor. In August 2016, he  re