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by bell-cot·4y ago·view on hn ↗
In National Security contexts, the "get angry at the weapon seller" response is very strongly correlated with how advanced (in technology, power, and scarcity) the weapon is perceived to be.

For an "average soldier" weapon, such as an M-16 - $Company isn't likely to catch much grief - unless they're selling a considerable quantity of them, or to an extremely notorious buyer. Similar for a cyberweapon - but an "everyday" one, which wouldn't be a big surprise for a C-list ransomware group to use.

Vs. NSO's stuff seems to be the sort of top-tech goodies which A-list nation states use to maintain & enjoy their A-list status. Whether any actual harm results from this incident... publicly letting a bunch of "the wrong sorts" into that exclusive clubhouse is getting NSO into really deep do-do with "the regulars".

1 comments
Yup. If decently up to date surface-to-air missiles were fired at State Department helicopters in X country, the US would be very very angry at whoever let those get sold so loosely.