Need a Spy? New Zealand Has Found a Resource
October 24, 2022
Israel’s armed and covert operatives are among the world’s most elite forces. It is not surprising when New Zealand’s government wanted to secretly spy and collect people’s data that they hired ex-Israeli operatives. Otago Daily explains whom New Zealand government tracked in the story: “Govt Enlists Ex-Israeli Spies To Covertly Collect Data.”
The New Zealand government, specifically the immigration department, hired Cobweb Technologies, a company formed by ex-Israeli spies. Meta (aka Facebook) kicked Cobwebs Technologies and six other foreign companies accused of creating fake accounts to spy on 50,000 people. The people spied on were journalists, politicians, human rights activists, and other persons of interest in over one hundred countries. The fake accounts also joined closed forums and communities to coerce members into sharing their private information.
Meta stated that Immigration NZ is only one of six countries that were Cobwebs Technologies’ customers. The department was a customer of the company for two years. Using social engineering, Cobweb Technologies uses its know-how to scan the Internet, mostly social media platforms, for targets’ public information.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment stated that Cobwebs Technologies’ acts were legal, controlled, and important:
They helped it meet its “legislative responsibilities”, in an undefined but “specific” area where there were active threats, the ministry told RNZ in its OIA response. Revealing more would “enable and embolden” groups overseas seeking to undermine it.
‘We are aware of activity overseas showing an intent (and ability) of such groups to do exactly this, specifically in response to the public release of information of the kind we are withholding, including tactically altering their behavior, increasing their operational security or deliberately injecting misinformation to reduce the effectiveness of collection methods. If even a moderate event in this particular area were to eventuate, the consequences for New Zealand could be significant and costly to fix,’ MBIE said.”
What exactly was New Zealand Immigration learning from Cobwebs Technologies? If it was about potential terrorist attacks on the country, then it was for national defense. If it was to spy on people who were not a threat, but did not agree with the country’s political agenda then it was a crime. How do you define each?
Whitney Grace, October 24, 2022
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