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Article

14 Feb 2017

Author:
Nicole Perlroth, The New York Times

Mexico: Experts & activists promoting soda tax to stop obesity reportedly under surveillance via NSO Group software

“Spyware’s Odd Targets: Backers of Mexico’s Soda Tax”, 11 Feb 17

Dr. Simón Barquera, the director of nutrition policy at Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health…Luis Manuel Encarnación, then the director at Fundación Mídete…Alejandro Calvillo, a mild-mannered activist and founder of El Poder del Consumidor…What the men had in common was this: All were vocal proponents of Mexico’s 2014 soda tax, the first national soda tax of its kind. It is aimed at reducing consumption of sugary drinks in Mexico, where weight-related diseases kill more people every year than violent crime….The links sent to the men were laced with an invasive form of spyware developed by NSO Group, an Israeli cyberarms dealer that sells its digital spy tools exclusively to governments…The discovery of NSO’s spyware on the phones of Mexican nutrition policy makers, activists and even government employees, like Dr. Barquera, raises new questions about whether NSO’s tools are being used to advance the soda industry’s commercial interests in Mexico…Lorena Cerdán, director of ConMéxico, said the group had no knowledge of, or part in, the mobile hacking. “This is the first we’re hearing of it,” Ms. Cerdán said. “And frankly, it scares us, too.”…