BREAKING: ICE to Monitor Americans' Social Media

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20. It's worse than that: Deploying Predator and Pegasus (previously banned) to spy on people inside our borders.

Rachel Maddow explains that while much of Donald Trump's abuse of power is typical of authoritarians, Trump has a new tool that no authoritarian before him has had: extremely advanced spyware, including predator and pegasus. Trump is already deploying this new weapon through ICE, which intends to use this surveillance technology against immigrants but also against Americans who protest against ICE, and anyone they might snare with an extremely loose definition of "anti-fascist."

AI Summary

Predator spyware and the Intellexa alliance

Developers: Predator is sold by the Intellexa alliance, a complex network of companies that includes Cytrox, based in North Macedonia.
Capabilities: The software is highly invasive, with advanced obfuscation capabilities designed to evade detection. It can infiltrate devices, extract sensitive data, and even activate microphones and cameras without the user's knowledge.

Notable incidents:

Greek surveillance scandal: Predator was at the center of a scandal involving the wiretapping of journalists and opposition politicians in Greece in 2022.

Targeting US officials: U.S. government officials, including members of Congress, have been targeted with Predator spyware by foreign entities.

U.S. sanctions: In 2024, the U.S. government imposed sanctions on the Intellexa consortium and its leadership due to the threat their technology poses to national security.

Pegasus spyware and the NSO Group

Developers: Pegasus was created by the NSO Group, a private company headquartered in Israel.
Capabilities: It is capable of secretly infecting phones and extracting private information, including emails, texts, and photos, often without any sign of intrusion.

Notable incidents:

Global abuse: The software has been used by governments around the world to spy on human rights defenders, journalists, and political opponents.

Double infection: In a particularly notable case, the phone of an Egyptian dissident was found to be simultaneously infected with both the Pegasus and Predator spyware.

European Parliament investigation: The European Parliament launched a committee of inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and similar spyware.