Source: Nextgov
Summary</
Acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) defended the agency’s use of Paragon spyware, citing the need to counter terrorists’ use of encrypted communications platforms. The director stated that the use of such tools is necessary to keep up with the evolving threat landscape. The comments were made during a hearing with lawmakers. ICE has faced scrutiny over its use of spyware in the past.
Our Reading
The launch follows a familiar script.
ICE is using Paragon spyware to “counter terrorists”, because that’s exactly what every agency says when they want to snoop on people’s private chats. It’s not like we’ve seen this movie before. The “thriving exploitation of encrypted communications platforms” is just a fancy way of saying “people are using Signal and WhatsApp”. Meanwhile, the use of spyware is just a “necessary tool” to keep up with the bad guys. And by “bad guys”, we mean anyone who doesn’t want to be spied on.
Original observation: Because what could possibly go wrong with giving a government agency a powerful spy tool and telling them to use it to fight terrorism?
Author: Evan Null
