On Lasswell's Model of Communication & the NSO Group

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasswell%27s_model_of_communication

So, the NSO group have issued a bald denial and announced they won't be answering further questions:
https://www.nsogroup.com/Newses/enough-is-enough/ (That's a JS-only link, text itself is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27910919)

Harold Lasswell has an interesting model of communications:

• Who?
• Says What?
• In Which Channel?
• To Whom?
• With What Effect?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasswell%27s_model_of_communication

Lasswell, Harold (1948). Bryson, L. (ed.). The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. The Communication of Ideas. New York: Institute for Religious and Social Studies. p. 117.

All communication is performative art. The performances and audiences differ. Often for the same work.

Communications such as these have two principle audiences:

• The general public
• The interests for which the speaker is operating.

The message to the press and public is pretty clearly "fuck you".

The message to organisations which may have used such services, and who may or may not have a history of acting with lethal force to protect their interests, is "we deny everything, we are the shield between you and the world, and we will not be talking further, and we can say this as bluntly as possible because we have major institutional, interest, and/or state backing."

That's not an uncommon message. It's generally not phrased quite so bluntly. That it is here may in fact be part of the signaling.

(All clearly conjecture, though it coheres.)

#NSOGroup #PegasusProject #Spyware #Surveillance #SurveillanceState #SurvaillanceCapitalism #Israel #HowardLasswell #denials