US Sanctions Founder of Spyware Maker Intellexa for Targeting Americans (techcrunch.com) 30
The U.S. government announced Tuesday sanctions against the founder of the notorious spyware company Intellexa and one of his business partners. From a report: This is the first time the U.S. government has targeted specific people, in addition to companies, with sanctions related to the misuse of commercial spyware. And it signifies an escalation of the White House and U.S. government's efforts to curb the spyware industry. "Today's actions represent a tangible step forward in discouraging the misuse of commercial surveillance tools, which increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens," said Brian E. Nelson, U.S Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, was quoted as saying in a press release.
"The United States remains focused on establishing clear guardrails for the responsible development and use of these technologies while also ensuring the protection of human rights and civil liberties of individuals around the world." The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Tal Dilian, the founder of Intellexa and a veteran of the spyware industry; and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, who is not as well-known as Dilian. Hamou, according to the Treasury, has a leadership role in Intellexa, is an expert in off-shoring, and provided the company managerial services, such as renting office space in Greece.
"The United States remains focused on establishing clear guardrails for the responsible development and use of these technologies while also ensuring the protection of human rights and civil liberties of individuals around the world." The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Tal Dilian, the founder of Intellexa and a veteran of the spyware industry; and Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, who is not as well-known as Dilian. Hamou, according to the Treasury, has a leadership role in Intellexa, is an expert in off-shoring, and provided the company managerial services, such as renting office space in Greece.
I’m sure that (Score:2)
This doesn’t even make me mad. I accepted that the world is complicated a long time ago.
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Is the evidence that the US government buys from Intellexa? It's plausible, but did it really happen?
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It's difficult to say if they would even trust an unauthorized vendor of such a product. Imagine buying some spyware to collect data on a foreign government but then having the spyware vendor itself leak the information you collected to that same government? That's the sort of geopolitical landmine that gets CIA directors fired.
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we've got the largest military in the world, so we make the rules.
Read carefully: Misuse, not use (Score:5, Interesting)
I think we understand each other, Mr Treasury Person.
But.... (Score:2, Insightful)
So these people will have sanctions for spying on Americans yet Google, Meta, and others blatantly spy on Americans on every aspect of their lives and they got hand outs from the government.
Good (Score:4, Informative)
Now do the same for makers of Pegasus. We know it's being used to spy on American journalists who report on Israel's deliberate [cnn.com] targetting [theguardian.com] of journalists [cnn.com] Or the deliberate [cnn.com] targetting [cnn.com] of civilians [cnn.com] and aid convoys [npr.org]. Or the deliberate destruction [cnn.com] of food stocks and vandalizing [imgur.com] of private homes.
Or is that anit-semitic to report on Israeli crimes?
Re:Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah too bad they didn't use it to spy on Hamas before they attacked a bunch of Israeli civilians at a peace and love concert, where they mass gang raped women, mass murdered everyone, mutilated and tortured a bunch more and kidnapped a few hundred back to Gaza for further rape and torture.
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Yeah too bad they didn't use it to spy on Hamas before they attacked a bunch of Israeli civilians
Too bad Israel didn't bother to listen [bbc.com] to all the warnings [theguardian.com] they received prior [bbc.com] to the attack.
But sure, if it's acceptable for Israel to deliberately target civilians because of the attack then it was perfectly acceptable for Germany to go after Jews who fought back. Fair enough?
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Absolutely true!
If the higher ups had listened to the warning then they could have stopped Hamas before they attacked a bunch of Israeli civilians at a peace and love concert, where they mass gang raped women, mass murdered everyone, mutilated and tortured a bunch more and kidnapped a few hundred back to Gaza for further rape and torture.
I'm glad we're in agreement acknowledging and understanding that when you launch horrific attacks against innocent civilians and then capture a few hundred for further tort
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Yeah too bad they didn't use it to spy on Hamas before they attacked a bunch of Israeli civilians at a peace and love concert, where they mass gang raped women, mass murdered everyone, mutilated and tortured a bunch more and kidnapped a few hundred back to Gaza for further rape and torture.
Shhhh... Don't let them know they parrot the propaganda from a terrorist organisation that would just as quickly see their (and our) white arses strung up aside the Jews (or Muslims they don't like) if they could.
Oh lordy, don't let them know about the kind of organisation they are trying to protect.
Re:Goo (Score:2)
They know. They just don't care. They hate Jews more than they love themselves, their children or their country. They think distance from the Middle East to their front door protects them so they can virtue signal from safety. Completely untrue of course but the only other answer is they're simply suicidal.
Btw, I'm not white but I get your point :-)
If the gov was really concerned (Score:2, Insightful)
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The same illegals the home builders, golf courses, hotels, lawn care, orchards, growers, and restaurants in Texas hire but who aren't fined for doing so? Companies run by the same people who will vote for the con artists because of his "tough" border policies but who hire these illegals?
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They should be.
The I9 should be fully enforced not the checkbox joke it is today.
Unable to get those jobs most would self deport and many fewer would want to be here.
Is fully enforcing our laws ok with you?
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I imagine you have to pay your domestic staff less if they're afraid of being deported, so all the examples you've given seem perfectly consistent to me.
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I imagine you have to pay your domestic staff less if they're afraid of being deported, so all the examples you've given seem perfectly consistent to me.
Except for the part where I said these are the same people voting for the con artist because of his "tough" border policies. If these people are so upset at "illegals" ruining this country, why are they hiring them? For all his bluster, even the con artist has hired illegals [time.com] to run his failing golf courses [vanityfair.com] and hotels [thehill.com]. One would think if these people are against illegals taking jobs from Americans they wouldn't hire illegals in the first place.
That is hardly "perfectly consistent" except if you're a hypoc
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Let's see. I need a new maid. I want to pay her less than the legally required minimum, and I also don't want her getting any "ideas." If she's got some sort of legal status, it's pretty hard to do that. But if she's illegal and afraid of getting caught, no problem. It's similar to cheap foreign workers in certain countries having their passports "looked after" for them by their employers, except skipping the step of them having passports in the first place. Very efficient.
Complaining about illegal immigran
Misuse of commercial spyware ;) (Score:2)
Meaning (Score:2)
Meaning: We don't want you acting like us.
The problem being, this is rich nations selling privacy-destroying technology to other rich nations. This is corporations protecting their greed and amorality from cultural selfishness (AKA nationalism and exceptionalism). Modern political ideology isn't geared to nuances such as "misuse" and, obviously, other nations don't call it misuse. The USA, once again, telling other countries how to perform national security (excepting chemical and nuclear weapons), wi
Does Bill Ackman have an opinion (Score:1)