Inside NSO, Israel’s billion-dollar spyware giant

Health misinformation pages got half a billion views on Facebook in April 

Sponsored by IBM The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology 08.19.20 Good morning! Today: an in-depth look at billion-dollar Israeli spyware giant NSO Group, and a report reveals just how rampant health misinformation is on Facebook. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Inside NSO, Israel’s billion-dollar spyware giant   Spyware for sale: Pegasus is the blockbuster product of NSO Group, a secretive billion-dollar Israeli surveillance company. It is sold to law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world, which use the company’s tools to choose a human target, infect the person’s phone with the spyware, and then take over the device. Once Pegasus is on your phone, it is no longer your phone. Counter-claims: NSO says it’s a tool for hunting for terrorists and criminals. But there is a long list of incidents in which Pegasus has been used as a tool of oppression. It has been linked to cases including the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the targeting of scientists and campaigners pushing for political reform in Mexico, and Spanish government surveillance of Catalan separatist politicians. NSO insists that the vast majority of its customers are European democracies, although since it doesn’t release client lists and the countries themselves remain silent, that has never been verified. Now, WhatsApp is suing the company, claiming it violates US law. Time to talk: NSO has long faced such accusations with silence. That’s changing. Over several months, Patrick Howell O’Neill spoke with NSO’s leadership, its critics, and pro-democracy activists who claim they have been hacked using its tools. He found a thriving arms dealer—inside the company, employees acknowledge that Pegasus is a genuine weapon—struggling with new levels of scrutiny that threaten the foundations of its entire industry. Read his full report. Read next... NSO Group’s co-founder and CEO, Shalev Hulio, also agreed to a rare, on-the-record interview, in which he claims the industry is becoming less transparent at precisely a time when it needs to become more so. He also describes intelligence work as a “shitty business full of ethical dilemmas.” Read the full interview. Health misinformation pages got half a billion views on Facebook in April The news: Pages spreading health misinformation got an estimated 3.8 billion views on Facebook in the year up to May 2020, according to analysis by human rights group Avaaz. Views peaked at nearly half a billion in April 2020 alone, just as the pandemic was rapidly escalating globally, it found. Content from 10 websites spreading health misinformation received almost four times as many estimated views on Facebook as content from 10 reliable sources, such as the WHO or CDC. What can be done about it? Arguably, Facebook could just ban the websites Avaaz has identified. The company promised to start taking a more proactive approach to fact-checking and removing covid-19 misinformation in April, but stopped short at saying it would alert people who have viewed or shared falsehoods. In its report, Avaaz says that taking this step could start to make a big dent in the number of people who believe in misinformation. It also says that Facebook needs to “detox” its algorithm by downgrading misinformation posts in people’s news feeds, thus decreasing their reach. We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + PUPPIES. So many happy, excited little puppies.   + A study has established that painting eyes on cows’ butts helps to ward off predators. Gotta love science sometimes.   + This is not a photo of Batman twerking.   + A town in Switzerland was lightly dusted with cocoa powder.   + A stunning obituary for Marvin Creamer, the first recorded person to sail around the world without navigational instruments. (NYT $)   + Do you have an isolating elder in your life? This guide will show you how to set them up with a tablet. All they have to do is switch it on. Sponsor Message A smarter supply chain control tower The control tower concept has been around for more than a decade and is getting renewed attention as companies try to pivot business operations, products, and experiences. In this paper, learn how smarter control towers are the performance nerve centers for supply chains and how AI can help you: •          Deliver end-to-end visibility across the supply chain •          Correlate the right data against a set of rules and deliver AI-assisted insights •          Enable collaboration across teams and partners Register to learn more about smarter control towers. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The pandemic created two tribes: YOLOers and distancers We always seem to find a way to make any issue a question of “us vs them.” (Wired $)   + Photos of thousands of people attending a packed pool festival in Wuhan went viral. (BBC)   + The pandemic finally gave us a use for QR codes. (Wired $)   + A faster, cheaper covid spit test has been approved by the FDA. (Ars Technica)   + Many countries have done a terrible job of informing the public about covid-19. (Quartz) 2 How one messaging app proved integral to the Belarus protests Telegram is helping take Lukashenko down. (Wired UK) 3 How schools can reopen safely  The most important thing? Community transmission needs to be very low. (Nature)   + The race to investigate a coronavirus outbreak at a Georgia prep school. (New Yorker $) 4 Police used facial recognition technology to arrest a protestor in Miami Clearview AI’s software continues to spread, unregulated, across US police departments. (NBC 6)   + There is a crisis of facial recognition and policing in the US. (TR) 5 Here’s how to keep California’s grid from buckling under the heat ☀️ It needs more energy storage, more reliable sources of carbon-free electricity, and major upgrades. (TR) 6 Facebook is refusing to help investigate the genocide in Myanmar  It says the request for data is “extraordinarily broad” and unduly intrusive or burdensome.” (Time)   + Anti-vaxxers are suing Facebook for fact-checking them. (The Verge) 7 Women are prettifying conspiracy theories on Instagram  Wild misinformation wrapped up as #authentic #inspirational posts. (The Atlantic) 8 Kids are taking to TikTok to vent about their conservative parents  I wonder how the parents complained about their parents back when they were young. (Buzzfeed) 9 New health sensors can be drawn directly onto the skin A cheap heart monitor can be created with electronic ink and stencils. (Scientific American) 10 Tired of nagging your children? Get Alexa to do it instead 👪 We all know you can’t disagree with a computer. (WSJ $) Not an expert? Not a problem.  Our team is full of those. Subscribe to MIT Technology Review today for an insightful look into technology for the future without getting bogged down by the jargon. Take a stand “Some of them ended up dead or in jail.” —Saudi dissident Ali al-Ahmed tells Bloomberg what happened to fellow activists who were hacked by Twitter employees in 2015. Top image credit: MS TECH | SOURCE: AP PHOTO/DANIELLA CHESLOW, FILE Please send puppies to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free From prevention to response Join us online | December 2-3, 2020 *View this in a browser You received this newsletter because you subscribed with your email address *Edit email preferences   |   *Unsubscribe from all emails Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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