PEGASUS! Not about Terrorism, it's about Control!

Throughout the day, you cook, you clean, spend time with your friends and family... perhaps you dabble in some of your favorite hobbies. But get this: someone is watching you. Where? Someone is watching you from a place you might least expect. The device in which you store all of your personal information, all those photos you took with your friends and family last Christmas, all those texts of desperation you sent your ex that you occasionally look back on and cringe, all those corny and random excerpts you wrote in your notes app thinking you were a poet... too much? Sorry, I tend to have a hard time controlling my attitude, especially as I write this blog, and you'll understand why soon. 

Did I read you like a book? Do I know you too well? Well, there might be a system out there that knows you even better than I think I do, and its name is Pegasus.

I recently read a very interesting case study article called "Privatized espionage: NSO Group Technologies and its Pegasus spyware" by authors Sean D. Kaster and Prescott C. Ensign. I have formed some very strong opinions, to say the least. 

Pegasus is a spyware system created by The NSO Group in an attempt to save lives and create a safer world (according to them). However, I am beginning to question the notion behind their idea of what it means to create a safer world, and I would love to hear them define it specifically. Whose world are they making safer exactly? Will the world be safer for the general society, or will it be safer for the guilty corporations and governments that need protection?

Looking at my past works, you would understand why this topic has me so upset. I have spent years and years putting so much time and effort into my artwork to fight for the freedom of information and transparency from our leaders. Whether it's from releasing information through encrypted messages in my music or contributing to information transparency efforts on WikiSneaks (parody), I have made it so clear in my morals and efforts that I believe in honesty. Pegasus seems to me to be a spyware model that heavily lacks in the moral of honesty. Specifically, I am thinking of Pegasus' contributions to the murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi, which, again, was emphasized in the case study article that I read. Not only this, but Pegasus was used in several other illegal incidents against dissidents, journals, and governments. This is an immense amount of control for corporations to potentially have, and the fact that The NSO Group is unwilling to take responsibility for the misuses of their technology makes my blood absolutely boil.

Not only does the lack of accountability make me angry, but the lack of respect for the victims of this technology also makes me angry. They are AWARE of the misuse of their surveillance system, yet they clearly are not willing to put an effort into regulating their technology. Regulation would not necessarily reduce and prevent every single misuse of their technology, as I believe it is honestly too far gone for that. I do believe that putting their foot down would send a solid and meaningful message to the world that they at least care. However, they don't! Pegasus is very clearly a reflection of how corporations and governments are freely allowed to take control of the trajectory of technology and our privacy, especially through surveillance tools. We do not have much control over whether we are infected with something like Pegasus. You might think, I'm so chill, though why would anyone want to spy on me?, but you never know. Additionally, the principal fact that surveillance software is being misused and implemented on individuals (in our societies') phones and technologies should be enough to start more of a revolution within our society. Pegasus is a baby step, yet a really big baby step in steps away from our right to privacy.

Someone needs to do something.