ICE reactivates contract with spyware maker Paragon

US immigration and customs application (ICE) Signing an agreement With Israeli last year Spyware The maker paragon is worth $ 2 million.

After a short period of time, the administration of the biden Put under the review of the contractIssued a “stop work order” to determine whether the contract complies An executive order About commercial spyware, which prevents US government agencies from using spyware that can violate human rights or target Americans abroad.

About a year later, when it seemed that the deal was just ended and never activated, the Ice Stop Work Order was lifted by public records.

“This agreement is for a fully configured solution with licenses, hardware, warranty, maintenance and training. This change is lifted to the Stop Work Order,” Read an update On the Federal Procurement Data System of the US Government on August 30, a database of official agreement.

Independent journalist Jack Palson The news was first reported in his newsletterThe

Paragon has cultivated the image of being a “moral” and responsible spyware manufacturer opposite controversial spyware filters like the hacking team over the years, IntellexaAnd NSO groupThe It Official websiteParagon has demanded to provide “moral -based equipment, team and insight” to its customers.

Spyware manufacturer is confronted with a moral hesitation. The deal with IC’s Information Technology Department is now active, it has been decided to decide with Paragon whether it wants to continue with the ICE, a company that has dramatically spread mass replacement and has expanded its surveillance forces since the adoption of the Donald Trump White House.

Paragon spokesman Emily Horn, as well as Executive Chairman John Fleming, did not respond to the request to comment.

Fleming told TechCrunch in an attempt to show his good faith in February this year Sells to the US government and other undefined allies in countriesThe

Paragon has already had to face a thorny moral dilemma. In January, WhatsApp revealed that about 90 users, including journalists and human rights workers, Paragon was targeted with spywareIs called graphite. In the next day and weeks, Italian journalist Francesco Canceto and Several Local pro-immigration Staff He came forward and said that they were among the victims.

In response to this scandal, Paragon breaks relations with the Italian governmentAn investigation began to determine what happened in it. Then, in June, the Citizen Lab of the Digital Rights Research Group Confirmed that two more journalistsAnonymous European and Cancelato colleague, Paragon’s spyware was hacked.

An Italian Parliament Committee Decided that the spy of immigrant workers was legalHowever, it also claimed that there was no evidence that Italian intelligence agencies, former Paragon customers, noticed Canceloto.

John Scott-Relton, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab, investigating spyware abuse cases for more than a decade, told Scott-Relton TechCrunch that “these tools were designed for dictatorship, not democracy built in the protection of independence and personal rights.”

The researcher said that even spyware was “malicious”, which is why there is a growing pile of spyware scandal in democracy, including the graphite of Paragon. Worse, Paragon is still protecting spyware abusers. Only see the fixed-renowned hacks of Italian journalists. “