Critics Slam NSO Group’s Transparency Claims as It Eyes US Market Entry
NSO Group faces backlash over its new transparency report amid efforts to enter the US market. Critics demand more accountability from the spyware maker.
But experts think the report is missing important details. Unlike its past reports, it doesn’t say how many customers NSO turned away for human rights abuses. They promised to respect human rights, but offered no evidence or examples.
Experts believe NSO is trying to convince the U.S. government to take them off a blocklist. The U.S. blocklist is called the Entity List. They hope to enter the U.S. market with new backers and leaders.
Last year, a group of U.S. investors bought NSO, and now they are changing a lot. Former Trump official David Friedman is the new chairman. The CEO, Yaron Shohat, has stepped down, and the last founding member, Omri Lavie, also left.
Friedman mentioned that if NSO’s products are used by the right people, the world will be safer. However, he didn’t say which countries NSO works in.
Natalia Krapiva, a digital rights expert, said NSO clearly wants to get removed from the U.S. Entity List. They need to show they have changed since their listing.
She stated that changing leadership is one part of their effort. The transparency report is another. Krapiva has seen NSO make empty claims before about their actions.
She described the report as a way to distract from the real issues, stating the U.S. government should be cautious.
Since the Biden administration added NSO to the Entity List, the company has worked hard to lift the restrictions. After Trump took office again last year, NSO increased its efforts. But as of May last year, the new administration still did not budge.
This year’s transparency report has less information than previous years. Last year, NSO claimed they opened three investigations into misuse but didn’t name the customers involved. They said they cut ties with one and took other action with another, which included human rights training.
In an older report, NSO mentioned rejecting over $20 million in new business due to human rights problems. The previous reports also said they terminated customers and even claimed significant losses due to these actions.
But this new report does not include total customer numbers, which were usually there in past reports. TechCrunch tried to get more information from NSO but did not hear back.
John Scott-Railton, a researcher from The Citizen Lab, criticized NSO for not providing the needed information. He expected clear numbers but was disappointed. He mentioned that NSO has a history of making claims that later turned out to be false.