FBI Told Israel It Wanted Pegasus Hacking Tool For Investigations (nytimes.com) 7
The F.B.I. informed the Israeli government in a 2018 letter that it had purchased Pegasus, the notorious hacking tool, to collect data from mobile phones to aid ongoing investigations, the clearest documentary evidence to date that the bureau weighed using the spyware as a tool of law enforcement. The New York Times reports: The F.B.I.'s description of its intended use of Pegasus came in a letter from a top F.B.I. official to Israel's Ministry of Defense that was reviewed by The New York Times. Pegasus is produced by an Israeli firm, NSO Group, which needs to gain approval from the Israeli government before it can sell the hacking tool to a foreign government. The 2018 letter, written by an official in the F.B.I.'s operational technology division, stated that the bureau intended to use Pegasus "for the collection of data from mobile devices for the prevention and investigation of crimes and terrorism, in compliance with privacy and national security laws."
The Times revealed in January that the F.B.I. had purchased Pegasus in 2018 and, over the next two years, tested the spyware at a secret facility in New Jersey. Since the article's publication, F.B.I. officials have acknowledged that they considered deploying Pegasus but have emphasized that the bureau bought the spying tool mainly to test and evaluate it -- partly to assess how adversaries might use it. They said the bureau never used the spyware in any operation.
The Times revealed in January that the F.B.I. had purchased Pegasus in 2018 and, over the next two years, tested the spyware at a secret facility in New Jersey. Since the article's publication, F.B.I. officials have acknowledged that they considered deploying Pegasus but have emphasized that the bureau bought the spying tool mainly to test and evaluate it -- partly to assess how adversaries might use it. They said the bureau never used the spyware in any operation.
What would Eric Idle say? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I wasn't aware the US had privacy and national security laws. Or none that you would notice. Shocked. Shocked I am.
Re: (Score:2)
US has those laws, they are just written in a way that gives no benefits to the citizens and all benefits to companies and the government.
They are basically a compromise between "Best laws money can buy" and "Overreach by authorities"
Unpacking the lie (Score:2)
The FBI really needs this tech! (Score:3)
Lots of terrorist at these School Board Meetings.
Leaky ship. (Score:1)
The FBI couldn't stop their own agents and agents' secretaries from using it whenever and wherever they wanted without leaving any paper trail. I wouldn't be surprised if they even used it on each other and still haven't realized it.
government speak (Score:2)
>> They said the bureau never used the spyware in any operation. ...would not be a lie if rather than directly doing it themselves they went through a 3rd party(NSA?) , ... also would not be a lie if why they actually bought Pegasus was to reverse engineer it, in order to figure out how to do some things, then they made or extended their own tool, which they use to spy on everyone.