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March 27, 2023: Sandrine Rigaud, co-author, "Pegasus"

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Today: Sandrine Rigaud, co-author, "Pegasus" and Editor-in Chief, Forbidden Stories

• Pegasus: How a Spy in Your Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy, by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud

• ForbiddenStories.org: “Killing the journalist won’t kill the story. We are a network of journalists whose mission is to protect, pursue and publish the work of other journalists facing threats, prison, or murder. It is the only existing program with this mission.”

• Biden Acts to Restrict U.S. Government Use of Spyware (NYT, March 27, 2023): “The most prominent seller of spyware is NSO Group. Numerous governments, from Mexico to India to Saudi Arabia, have deployed NSO’s Pegasus spyware against political dissidents and journalists. . . . In addition, several American government agencies have either purchased or deployed Pegasus. In 2018, the Central Intelligence Agency bought the surveillance tool for the government of Djibouti, which used it inside that country. The next year, the F.B.I. purchased Pegasus and tested the tool for two years, before ultimately deciding not to deploy it.”

• Frontline: Exposing Pegasus: Part One, Part Two (Jan 10, 2023) - thanks to DJ Bryce for the pointer!

• The Pegasus Project: One year on, spyware crisis continues after failure to clamp down on surveillance industry (Amnesty International, July 18, 2022)

• The Chris Hedges Report Podcast with Katherine Cocoran on Mexico's Epidemic of Murdered Journalists - see also the toxic YouTube version (March 24, 2023): Katherine Corcoran, the former Associated Press bureau chief in Mexico, discusses her book In the Mouth of the Wolf: A Murder, a Coverup, and the True Cost of Silencing the Press.

• Critics claim Paris using 2024 Games to introduce Big Brother video surveillance (France24, March 25, 2023) - thanks to Jeremiah Ventry-McGee for the pointer. Excerpt:

“France’s National Assembly is due to adopt a law on Tuesday [March 28, 2023] ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Article 7 is the most controversial aspect of this law, as it will allow AI video surveillance to be used to detect abnormal behaviour. Human rights organisations and the French left have condemned the measure.”

“. . . Article 7 of this law is particularly controversial, as it states that AI video surveillance may be used, on a trial basis, to ensure the safety of the Olympic Games. Human rights groups say the use of this technology will set a dangerous precedent.”

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