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Paragon Solutions, an Israeli spyware company, has confirmed that it sells its products to the U.S. government. This revelation has sparked intense discussions about the balance between national security, privacy, and the growing surveillance state.
According to the reports John Fleming, the executive chairman of Paragon said that the company licenses its spyware technology to a select group of global democracies, with the U.S. as a key customer.
The company states that it follows strict policies which do not tolerate the targeting of journalists and members of civil society. The terms of service in Paragon emphasize a zero-tolerance approach, stating that any client found violating these terms would be dropped immediately.
This confirmation follows allegations by WhatsApp, which pointed fingers at spyware from Paragon for having been used in a hacking campaign targeting about 90 journalists and activists. Some of those include Italian journalist Francesco Cancellato and Libyan activist Husam El Gomati, a Swedish-based.
The two above individuals have acknowledged they were hacked. The implications have further fuelled the controversies about surveillance technologies misuse.
Paragon's customer vetting policy has faced criticism, particularly after the claims made by WhatsApp. It remains unclear who qualifies as a "global democracy" and whether the company investigates abuse of its technology. Paragon has not answered specific questions regarding its practices or whether it has ever terminated contracts over such violations.
The controversy gets deeper and worse as it is revealed that Paragon's U.S. subsidiary had earlier signed a $2 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Further, a U.S. private equity firm, AE Industrial, attempted to buy Paragon for around $900 million, which further brought into question the ethics of handing such surveillance capabilities to government agencies.
WhatsApp has since issued a cease-and-desist letter to Paragon, demanding that it stop its further unauthorized surveillance. However, Fleming refused to comment on that letter.
The current debates over digital privacy have kept Paragon in the limelight as well as its partnerships. Cases like Cancellato and El Gomati bring out another level of debate over whether it is justified to let governments and companies observe the citizens for the sake of national security.
