Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud's book diligently documents not just the ghastly consequences of state surveillance on individuals but juxtaposes these with stories of resistance and courage. https://thewire.in/books/the-most-dangerous-software-known-to-humankind
The privately-owned Israeli company called the NSO Group that developed the world’s most dangerous surveillance tool claims that it is used for law-enforcement: for nabbing terrorists, drug dealers, paedophiles, tracking drones and even finding people trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building. But this spyware – and its clones and imitations, including one named Predator – that is supposedly made available only to government law-enforcing agencies after due authorisation by the Israeli government, is also misused by regimes across the world, especially authoritarian ones. Only governments, and perhaps indirectly a few big business groups, can shell out the big bucks needed for the targeted deployment of Pegasus. Although Tel Aviv claims that the spyware is sold only to government bodies and NSO denies its unauthorised use – this argument is what Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud’s book Pegasus: The Story of the World’s Most Dangerous Spyware seeks to dispute and demolish.
02/11/2023