I have not been shy about how I feel about the State of Israel. While there is the current genocide and occupation that needs to end now, my main gripe with Israel is the technology it develops and refines by using it against others. One example with worldwide reach is Pegasus. Pegasus is the product of The NSO Group. They recently were handed a loss by Apple. Now Meta is getting into the action.
Not only had the Pegasus spyware been able to infiltrate iOS and Android devices, it was also able to get into apps like WhatsApp. This is where Meta gets involved. Meta discovered that the spyware had been used on nearly 1,400 WhatsApp users back in 2019. This is when a lawsuit against NSO was launched.
Meta had requested that NSO give the social media company Pegasus’ code. This would allow Meta to see how the app functioned. NSO refused, of course. However, as The Guardian reports, the judge has told the Israeli company to hand it over.
NSO Group, the maker of one the world’s most sophisticated cyber weapons, has been ordered by a US court to hand its code for Pegasus and other spyware products to WhatsApp as part of the company’s ongoing litigation.
The decision by Judge Phyllis Hamilton is a major legal victory for WhatsApp, the Meta-owned communication app which has been embroiled in a lawsuit against NSO since 2019 […]
She sided with WhatsApp in ordering the company to produce “all relevant spyware” for a period of one year before and after the two weeks in which WhatsApp users were allegedly attacked: from 29 April 2018 to 10 May 2020. NSO must also give WhatsApp information “concerning the full functionality of the relevant spyware”.
Once the code has been delivered, the lawsuit will continue.
Now, I don’t normally get behind big companies because capitalism will kill us all, but I will cheer on a civil liberties win.
I mean, its also against a state who is pioneering mass surveillance…And Meta will now have that code.
Oh, God!
Source: 9To5Mac
