In Monitored (now streaming on Max), renowned journalist Ronan Farrow investigates how governments use powerful spyware to hack phones and keep tabs on people. The cynics among us won’t be surprised to hear this. But this cynicism is further reinforced by Farrow’s discovery that it is not just fascist despots who are committing this attack on privacy and civil liberties: democratic governments are using the software to surveil their own citizens, including dissidents. politicians and journalists. Farrow became interested in the subject after his high-profile revelations about Harvey Weinstein and Leslie Moonves led to him being monitored by private investigators who used his phone to track him. Farrow has since published several articles in the New Yorker about this troubling technology, with his 2022 article “How Democracies Spy on Their Citizens” forming the basis of this revealing hour-long documentary.

MONITORED:Stream it or ignore it?

The bottom line: The NSO Group is an Israel-based cyber intelligence organization infamous for its software called Pegasus, which allows users to remotely access smartphones. The company’s only customers are governments, and both parties say Pegasus is used only to fight organized crime and terrorism. The software is seen as a key part of the arrest of infamous Mexican cartel lord El Chapo – but it has also been linked to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi government agents. Pegasus exploits code flaws in various apps, including WhatsApp, which rushed to patch its security flaws to combat spyware, and later took NSO to court. The most annoying thing about Pegasus? It can find its way into phones and not only access its data – photos, web history, etc. – but also record audio and video without the user even realizing it.

The documentary follows Farrow throughout 2021 and 2022 as he travels from continent to continent to investigate this shady activity. NSO’s increased scrutiny following its very public controversies led the company to adopt a new philosophy of “transparency,” which meant Farrow was allowed to visit its lavish Tel Aviv headquarters to interview various employees – under the watchful eye of his public relations representative, of course. The company opened the doors to the press, “to a certain extent,” Farrow says. He came away with various claims that NSO’s vetting process to ensure its government customers use Pegasus responsibly is strict. Take our word for it is the takeaway. Trust us.

Of course, Farrow is suspicious of these assurances and digs deeper. He finds a former NSO employee willing to expose the company’s questionable ethics as long as his identity remains anonymous. He travels to Toronto, where activists from a group known as Citizen Lab have developed a way to test phones for traces of Pegasus activity. Farrow then follows this thread to Spain, specifically Barcelona, ​​where Citizen Lab investigator Elies Campo learned that the democratic government was using Pegasus to spy on activists, journalists and politicians supporting a separatist movement in Catalan. From there, Farrow returns to the United States to ask politicians what they are doing to combat such surveillance tactics and whether they are using them in any capacity. The answer is obviously complicated, but it’s also a big yes, although it falls entirely within the civil liberties of citizens. Farrow’s takeaway? Take our word for it. Trust us.

What films will this remind you of? : Kill the chain, The swamp, After the truth…all documents, such as Monitoredthat we wish we didn’t have to exist.

Performances to watch: Campo is an underappreciated hero of the Pegasus movement, at great personal sacrifice – we learn that the Spanish government hacked his family members’ phones to keep tabs on him.

Memorable dialogues: Farrow asks Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes if the U.S. government uses Pegasus. The politician says yes, but only so that the FBI can be fully informed of its operation in order to better combat it: “The idea that, for the first time in our history, we are going to say that we are going to let all the bad guys have technology that we’re not going to use – it’s a new concept. And when you really think about it, it’s a bit of a scary concept.

Sex and skin: None.

Our opinion: “A bit of a scary concept.” The understatement of the year. Another disconcerting truth that Farrow points out in Monitored? “You can’t put the tech genie back in the bottle,” says a US government official. In other words, once Pegasus is in flight, it cannot be eradicated. Now, if you’re wondering what kind of dark and desperate conclusion Farrow arrives at at the end of the doc, well, here it is: “Our only path to privacy might be to live without our phones.” » Keep this notion in your brain, critically analyze it with all the dispassionate logic and reason you have, consider the context of life in America (and other countries struggling with political instability, though sure) and the conclusion you will reach. » is concise and obvious: we are doomed.

Sorry to be disappointing. Simply reflecting the tone and message of this documentary. But hey, at least we’re better informed about things, right? It’s always better to know things than not to know them, I keep telling myself, not knowing if I’m lying to myself at least a little, and realizing that it’s always the glimmer of hope that We paint over bad news. We get a glimpse of the diligence of serious investigative journalism as we watch Farrow dig, dig, and ask tough questions. It’s not his responsibility to make things positive or make us feel better. It does not offer a viable solution to the problem of state-sponsored citizen surveillance; Let’s be real, asking billions of people to smash their phones with a hammer is like asking a crocodile to let go of your leg, because, ouch, it hurts. We are too dependent on technology, and many of us are too willing to look the other way, compromise our civil liberties for convenience, or be complicit in it. watch all you want because I never do anything wrong sense.

These notions bubble up during Monitoredalongside a more discreet subtextual assertion that we should not expect supposedly democratic governments to do the right thing for the good of all, including the United States. Consider the words Rep. Himes uses here: “the bad guys.” What a relative term. The US government is certainly seen as “the bad guy” in other parts of the world, and perhaps even within its own borders. Nor is it particularly reassuring: the Pegasus ordeal places huge tech conglomerates like Apple and Microsoft on the front lines of the battle against NSO, as their products are exploited for nefarious purposes; On the one hand, Big Tech has lots of money and shark-like lawyers at its disposal, but on the other, we trust them as much as the government to do the right thing. All sorts of embarrassing information springs out Monitoreda documentary that offers such vital reporting that it’s absolutely no fun to watch.

Our call: For better or worse, we are better informed about really bad things after watching Monitored. Diffuse it, then go pour yourself 17 strong drinks.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.