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ICE obtains access to Israeli-made spyware that hack phones and encrypted apps

(www.theguardian.com)
192 points pera | 1 comments | 02 Sep 25 18:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.2s | source
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bawolff ◴[02 Sep 25 20:23 UTC] No.45108510[source]▶
In some ways i think the most interesting aspect is that US federal government has to outsource its spyware.

Is it just that the NSA is unwilling (legally prevented?) to share their toys? Its hard to imagine they don't have capabilities like this.

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vFunct ◴[02 Sep 25 20:38 UTC] No.45108702[source]▶
NSA isn't allowed to spy on US citizens. NSA is a US military organization under Department of Defense, and Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US.

One of the few good things revealed by Edward Snowdens leaks was the fact that the NSA has filters for intercepted communications to filter out comms from US citizens. This was in top-secret programs that had no reason to be publicly known, and yet the NSA still had these filters installed anyways, because everyone in the NSA understands that they're not a law-enforcement agency, because of Posse Comitatus.

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bawolff ◴[02 Sep 25 20:41 UTC] No.45108745[source]▶
> Posse Comitatus act makes it unlawful for the US military to act as a police force in the US.

Sure, but i dont think (ianal) that it prevents technology transfer.

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mattnewton ◴[02 Sep 25 20:41 UTC] No.45108763[source]▶
Who says that isn’t happening?
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amarant ◴[02 Sep 25 20:59 UTC] No.45108975[source]▶
It's implied by the fact that Ice had to obtain the spyware from israel
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1. mattnewton ◴[02 Sep 25 22:58 UTC] No.45110213[source]▶
I mean that the US government could have laundered some of the tools it is not supposed to have developed against US citizens through Israeli companies. (We don’t have any evidence of this in this case)