20 July 2021
A mythical winged steed that was per legend born from the union of Poseidon a Varuna equivalent who was also the God of Horses, and a Gorgon Medusa, one of three such hideous creatures that had serpents for strands of hair, who were winged females human like. So if we don’t delve too deep into Hittite and even earlier civilisational legends, we will take it that a winged horse, though definitely not a Uchchaisravas- the mythical steed seven headed and flying at that, of Indra, which emerged from the churning of the Milky Way or primordial ocean, which was done when Avatar Kurma of Vishnu supported the Mandara, a spur taken from Meru, that was the very Axis of the world.
Why must we use so much mythology is because we want to offer context. Like how the legend of Rahu-Ketu sprung, the little spoken of, but obviously the clincher avatar of Vishnu as Mohini, without whom the Devas could never have had the nectar all by themselves, save Svarbhanu who being an asura, disguised as a deva managed to savour the nectar, which is why even after the Sudarshana Chakra sliced through his head, he remained, his head and torso tormenting the Sun and Moon, by turns, as Rahu and Ketu. So the context of ‘character’, of Truth, of calumny, of credibility is not one you can find in these Puranic legends, nor for that matter in Greek legends, considering the fate of Bellerophon the hero who tamed the Pegasus and astride the Pegasus destroyed the Chimera, did much to please the Olympian Gods and who fell out with Zeus when he dared to reach Mount Olympus, their abode!
So it is quite appropriate for a company to name a spyware package as Pegasus, for you can ride it to perform stupendous heroic exploits. Apparently the company NSO also has a clear mandate of offering their package only to governments, who as bonafide clients were expected to use this against terrorists, against plots that would disturb the democratic polity which governments known to Israel and friendly that were offered, were supposedly protecting!
You can ask, why would a protector need such subversive soft ware? Why would the upholder of privacy and keeper of the Freedoms, Guarantor of the Law, need a code or application that would violate so many of them, foundational as they are, to liberal democracy? Call it the times we live in, when non state actors can and have been major disruptors through acts like 9/11(Twin Towers), 26/11(Mumbai) and we can never tell, what all could have been thwarted, if such a deployment was brought to bear, against individuals who are clearly motivated and dangerous to Democracy itself.
The problem is simple. It is the subject of so many movies, including a Tom Cruise starrer Minority Report. For conventional justice systems operate after the fact, whereas intelligence gathering as well as special operations seek the inputs necessary to eliminate ‘credible threat’. To prevent ‘crime’ of serious nature that would place considerable risks upon nascent/fledgling democracies. So if one pushed the morality of such a course of action outside the envelope of such operations, practically, any effort can be justified, including even the planting of evidence in devices used by known or shadowed individuals who the State perceives is inimical to its existence. Often enough, the way the State is personalised, the difference between Caesar and Caesar’s wife is the first casualty. Further the way Post Truth World operates, it is so personality driven that Caesar is not just the Senate, but verily Rome embodied.
Was Pegasus new? I mean, were the current revelations, a novelty? We all know that the first time Pegasus was raised in India was 2019. We also know that for some time now, parliamentary sessions or ‘house functioning’ to pass legislation is something which the NDA has been adept at, whether government wants voice votes or division or without debate or with debate, so a chaotic Parliament which could derail the Government agenda is far fetched. If the effort is to bring forth fresh impetus to get after the Sauds, especially Crown Prince MBS, about his role in Jamal Kashoggi’s murder, or the hacking of Jeff Bezos’ phone, US Intelligence and State Department can do it without this kind of broad swords dangling against so many governments, as a serialised expose of sordid details involving Pegasus use. It would not take much for Pentagon to fry a few networks, even cause a ‘erasure’ of persons or person, whom the US identified as with blood on their hands for what happened to Kashoggi, or even haul up such a person in a court of law if they so cared.
An aspect that now soft ware exists, which can use WhatsApp to listen in and read phones of military commanders of nearly two dozen friendly allies of the US, was also let out in this expose. The issues are simply the elephant in the room that apart from Snowden, no one quite touched upon. Snowden is a clear example of why the Leader of the Free World stands exposed on this key issue as well. If it were not real, it would be a delicious irony, that Snowden was granted asylum and later permanent residency in Russia, Russia that is led by Vladimir Putin! So, in this current effort, led by Amnesty International, Forbidden Stories which is a Parisian non profit, and several media houses including the Wire in India, the expose is probably an attempt to widen the frame of reference, from the narrow, targeting of individuals to a larger issue of whether the State should empower itself to dissect the private life of any citizen without a judicial process, without their knowledge at all. We can say safely, no State is against such a upholding of freedom of privacy as envisaged, though most will demonstrate their vocal support for such freedoms. Snooping on citizens is something that the State has been doing from the earliest days of its existence, only perhaps, wire taps, and more sophisticated hacking now has safeguards, most of which are observed in the breach.
There is one issue which is my pet theme…it is of how Israel under Netanyahu’s leadership has now turned into a possible ‘rogue state’, capable of upsetting the applecart. In the order of nations, much like Shalya from the Mahabharata, wooed by Kauravas, though by marriage a maternal uncle to the Pandavas. With drones last year in the Azeri gains over Nagarno Karabakh, and the renewed focus on Pegasus this year, Israeli companies with close connections to the State, are attracting publicity that Israel could do without. Like how Americans ensured their ‘chip industry’ went to South Korea and Taiwan, you can be rest assured now that many critical technologies and military related ones would be sorted for ensuring a wide berth steering clear of Tel Aviv. Langley surely will be rooting for it, allying with Pentagon, for today, Israeli collaboration with Turkey, China, with Saudi Arabia and many others is a cause of not heartburn, but concern for the Western Compact.
Of particular interest would be the ‘TransNationals’ the Big Tech that dominates the global agenda and arena, even though, there has been push back from Western countries over content regulations, including paying for news shared online by these platforms. Facebook is on the back foot responding to President Biden’s assertions that it was responsible for Americans missing the Presidential vaccination target, when a whole host of cable news led by Fox, routinely lead with antivaxxer stuff. Then there is Twitter in spotlight in India, briefly Google was in a fix over its document sharing platform which created ‘toolkit’s. So again, the drift is actually internationally, however, one thing they all love, is their version of ‘data privacy’ and ‘end to end encryption’. So Pegasus could undo that claim, and boy the Biggies hate such a public disavowal of their superpowers! Remember Apple back then refused to open a iPhone 5c belonging to a known terror operative and one killed in police action in San Bernardino shoot out in 2016? Again in 2020, Apple refused AG Barr’s orders to cooperate with FBI by offering it a ‘back door’ in the Pensacola shooting case. And in India, Apple threw the Government notification about iMessage app under the legal bus and forced it to retract. So companies do and will take their vaunted claims of data privacy seriously, for with their discerning customers, for their loyal users, take them seriously. Hence I expect a backlash from the Biggies, may be even collectively, on this, including leaning on Congressmen, Committees and the State to get them to cap the potentials of corporations like MSO even as they undertake legal recourse against such security companies for past actions as Apple has.
So, by now, you would have a clear idea, why this Pegasus stands on such mythical and Puranic legs, that I would offer readers a clear verdict to stay clear of this quicksand. The moral or ethical lines are non existent here. In India’s own domestic situation, we are far removed from the kind of sensibilities that minority government of Mr Chandrasekhar displayed when it resigned after an allegation made that Mr Rajiv Gandhi was being snooped upon! Of course, the first CM to resign for tapping phones of MLAs including the leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly was redoubtable Ramakrishna Hegde! Wire tapping is officially permitted under the archaic Telegraph Act (1885) in India too! So this fuss about the government, is actually acutely a matter of a government in denial. Why the government denies this, is for it to answer, hopefully on the floor of Parliament soon. Apart from this, in India’s Kut Niti Raj Niti, with Sam Dham Dhand Bhed,(real Politique with divide and conquer laissez faire approach) or now christened Bahubali politics, it’s all hunky dory, not worth the steam or print or wherever this is getting heat.
Issues remain, for security analysts, for experts who would prefer privileged communication remain that way, for not just industrial or military level espionage, but also for greater national security matters, which has been laid bare by this effort led by Amnesty International. I do see a near future, where the citizen in developed countries would have access to data privacy of a degree that would not be imaginable in other parts of the world. A greater part of that effort would actually be borne by the most unlikely of coalition partners- the Tech Biggies! A new liberal order may well take to wings, riding the current maelstrom over Pegasus!
indiarubberman.com 