Apple sues Nso Group, the Israeli company that produces the spyware at the center of the Pegasus scandal. The goal of the Cupertino house is to make the Nso software unusable on all Apple devices. The request is to permanently prohibit NSO Group from using any Apple software, service or device and that it no longer develops software that violates the software, so as to protect the safety of the same and its users. “Companies like Nso spend millions of dollars on sophisticated surveillance technologies without proper accountability. This situation needs to change, ”said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering.
Who is NSO Group?
NSO Group is an Israeli surveillance company that sells technology under license to authorized government agencies – for the sole purpose – they claim – “to fight crime and terror”. They are the ones who designed and produced Pegasus, the spyware at the center of criticism in recent months for being used by authoritarian governments to spy on journalists and dissidents. They defend themselves from the accusation by claiming to provide “governments with the legal tools” to fight “pedophiles and terrorists” who operate freely online “. That is to say, we supply the weapons, it is not our responsibility if they end up in the wrong hands and for illicit use. Nso’s defense is a request for immunity for having worked for intelligence. Nso executives have always claimed to sell spyware to law enforcement and intelligence agencies for legal eavesdropping. NSO Group, we recall, was blacklisted by the US Department of Commerce
The background with Facebook
A lawsuit had already been initiated by Facebook in 2019 accusing it of targeting 1,400 of its Whatsapp users with its spyware, including around 100 diplomats, government officials, journalists and activists.