4A | AUGUST 12, 2021 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Cottage Grove Sentinel 116 N. Sixth St. Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424 damien Sherwood, editor | 541-942-3325 | dsherwood@cgsentinel.com Opinion The First Amendment C ongress shall make no law respect- ing an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Govern- ment for a redress of grievances. “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800) Pegasus and the global surveillance business (Editor’s Note: Viewpoint sub- missions on this and other topics are always welcome as part of our goal to encourage community dis- cussion and exchange of perspec- tives.) hacking are uncertain. All these officials refused to turn over their phones for forensic analy- sis. There’s a connection between the surveillance industry and lobbying. NSO can only sell its technol- ogy with Israeli government ap- proval, which means it must lob- by Israel’s defense ministry. And that effort extends to the US. For while NSO maintains that Peg- asus will never be used “to con- duct cybersurveillance within the United States,” why has it re- tained a prominent Washington, DC law firm to lobby US officials actors. They pose very difficult deci- sions for individuals on the re- ceiving end. Unless they are gov- ernment officials, there is no way to retaliate. In the case of Pega- sus, its discovery may be suffi- We have just learned about a cient this time around to bring powerful spyware known as Peg- that particular technology down. asus, manufactured and leased But it may only encourage others by the Israeli company NSO to make a new version that is less Group and capable of extract- detectable. ing just about every kind of data The fairly obvious solution to stored in a smart phone. The cyber attacks is to ban the tech- Pegasus Project, a consortium nology, somewhat the way land of 17 organizations and indi- mines were banned. In that case, viduals, mostly journalists, has and perhaps in this one, citizen acquired a leaked list of 50,000 action may work better than re- individuals around the lying on the technology’s world whose phones may producer or governments. By Mel Gurtov have been hacked, though But at some point an in- Professor Emeritus of Political Science at not necessarily penetrated. ternational cyber security Portland State University Purportedly developed agreement will be necessary. to track criminals and ter- Still, as the Pegasus case rorists, Pegasus is also be- shows, you can’t prevent a ing widely used to hack into the about NSO’s technology? powerful spyware from getting smart phones of human rights It is entirely possible that Pega- in the wrong hands and causing activists, journalists, and their sus has been used or might yet be inestimable damage. political opponents at home and used against Americans who, for Consider what the CEO of even abroad. example, write from home about NSO said: “We understand that Who is using Pegasus to track human rights abuses abroad. in some circumstances our cus- enemies? Only a fraction of the The fact that nothing in a tomers might misuse the sys- 50,000 hacked phone numbers smart phone is safe from Pegasus tem.” so far obtained have been exam- makes it a weapon, another piece Surely the understatement of ined, but that’s enough to reveal of infowar technology, and all the year. Just recall China’s ubiq- that governments from left to the more insidious for being able uitous surveillance system. And right have made use of Pegasus. to hide within the phone and, the fact that democratic govern- Among them: Saudi Arabia, In- even if discovered, be difficult to ments are fully capable of misus- dia, and Hungary. track. ing the technology — recall that The two people closest to the Just think of all the informa- in 2013 the US hacked the phone murdered Saudi journalist Jared tion a smart phone contains: of Germany’s chancellor Angela Khashoggi, including his widow, contacts, passwords, text and Merkel — means that no govern- are among those whose phones email messages, videos, pictures. ment and no private company were penetrated. The Modi gov- Planting bugs and wiretap- can really be trusted to prevent ernment in India and the Orban ping seem ancient by compari- large-scale abuse. government in Hungary have son. A technology like Pegasus About the only good news I caused uproars over their use of conceivably can infect millions can report is that management Pegasus to spy on critics. of phones anywhere, anytime, of the fund that controls NSO Pegagus is also being used giving a government or a gang Group and therefore Pegasus is against current high-level gov- access to potentially lethal infor- now being challenged. As The ernment officials. Among the mation. Guardian reports, “Public inves- people on the list: Three pres- We are nearing the point tors in the private equity firm idents, from France, Iraq, and where technology is driving con- that owns a majority stake in the South Africa; three current flict rather than the other way Israeli spyware company NSO prime ministers, from Pakistan, around. Satellites, drones, spy- Group are in talks to transfer Egypt, and Morocco; and one ware, malware, and other forms management of that fund to . . . king (Morocco). That means all of cyber attacks—all these enable a US consulting firm.” Interest- of them have been tracked and states to compete and fight at a ingly, the largest of those public their private messaging probably distance, sometimes (as we have investors is the state of Oregon’s collected — though exactly what seen with Russian and Chinese public pension fund. was culled and who is doing the hacking gangs) using nonstate Stay tuned. Guest Viewpoint USPS#133880 Copyright 2021 © COTTAGE GROVE SENTINAL Letters to the Editor Policy The Sentinel welcomes letters to the editor as part of a community discussion of issues on the local, state and national level. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed letters must be signed. All letters need to include full name, address and phone number; only name and city will be printed. Letters should be limited to about 300 words. Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. 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