Oregon might dump controversial spyware investment

By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s treasurer is exploring legal options with the state attorney general in the state’s large investment in a smartphone spyware company — a firm that has been denounced by human rights groups, the U.S. government and tech giants. In 2017, the Oregon Investment Council unanimously committed $233 million in the state employee retirement fund to a new private equity fund called Novalpina Capital, which later acquired a majority share of NSO Group, an Israeli company that produces smartphone spyware. The company’s Pegasus spyware can turn a smartphone into an eavesdropping device and rummage through emails, documents, texts and photos. It has been used by repressive regimes against dissidents, human rights workers and journalists.