With secret contract, U.S. uses spyware to supervise world: NYT

NEW YORK, April 6: Under the secret contract finalized on Nov. 8, 2021, the Israeli firm, NSO Group, gave the U.S. government access to one of its most powerful weapons -- a geolocation tool that can covertly track mobile phones around the world without the phone user's knowledge or consent, reported The New York Times (NYT) on Sunday.

"Only five days earlier, the Biden administration had announced it was taking action against NSO, whose hacking tools for years had been abused by governments around the world to spy on political dissidents, human rights activists and journalists," said the report.