Government Spyware Targets Mexican Journalists and Their Families

The company that makes the software "says it sells the tool exclusively to governments" as though they're trying to take a moral stand and say "we only see it to the good guys". When in fact they sell to governments that are highly oppressive and corrupt. It's a farce.

We are heading into an interesting future. The NSO Groups biggest owner Francisco Partners has both Software and Semiconductor companies in its portfolio, like Dell Software. Should I be worried about the firmware in my Dell computer? When everything becomes entangled like this it's impossible to know who to trust. And in the end it doesn't really matter what intent you have if people don't trust you.

Important note: while in other countries the information acquired via this hacking could be used to blackmail or imprison their targets, in Mexico they are just shot dead.

Governments amplified by technology and unconstrained by law are the largest threat to human liberty I can think of.

<i>Starting as early as March, they began targeting Ms. Aristegui’s then-16-year-old son, Emilio, who was living in the United States at the time.</i><p>I wish the New York Times had asked the US Government for a response to this allegation in particular.

Are they really so surprised that their promise to only survey criminals is broken?

Alternative link in case there is someone bothered by the NYT paywall: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;abcnews.go.com&#x2F;Technology&#x2F;wireStory&#x2F;report-mexican-journalists-activists-targeted-spyware-48135826" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;abcnews.go.com&#x2F;Technology&#x2F;wireStory&#x2F;report-mexican-jo...</a>

Of course it does. These days, just imagine the most insidious and nightmarish overreach and wait a few weeks. 2017 is looking like a benchmark year in this regard.