Zack Beauchamp, Jenn Williams, and Jen Kirby discuss the explosive revelations that a number of governments around the world, from Saudi Arabia to Hungary to India, have been using military-grade spyware made by an Israeli firm to secretly hack into the phones of journalists, activists, and political opponents. They explore what we know about the NSO Group, the Israeli company who sold this software; what the technology does; how governments may have used it to spy on critics; and what all of this tells us about the rise of digital authoritarianism.References:The Pegasus Project uncovers the potential abuse of NSO Group spywareThe major takeaways from the investigation, according to the Washington Post And the revelations keep on comingHungarian journalists had spyware on their phonesAnd so did a top rival of India’s prime ministerThe Pegasus investigation puts Israel in an uncomfortable positionUS and EU officials suspect links between NSO Group and Israeli intelligenceIsrael’s defense ministry says “appropriate action” will be taken if NSO violated export permitsSteven Feldstein’s book, The Rise of Digital Repression (and listen to Zack’s interview!)Israel considered using NSO Group to help track the coronavirusHosts:Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, VoxJennifer Williams (@jenn_ruth), senior foreign editor, VoxJen Kirby (@j_kirby1), foreign and national security reporter, Vox Consider contributing to Vox:If you value Worldly’s work, please consider making a contribution to Vox:bit.ly/givepodcastsMore to explore:Subscribe for free to Today, Explained, Vox’s daily podcast to help you understand the news, hosted by Sean Rameswaram.About Vox:Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines.Follow us:Vox.comNewsletter: Vox Sentences Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices