RONAN FARROW’S QUICK QUEST TO UNVEIL A SHADY SPYWARE MARKET
By Kaitlyn Simpson
SURVEILLED
61 Minutes
(USA, 2024)
Dir. Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill
Studios: HBO Documentary Films, Ronan Production Group, DCTV
Released in November 2024, Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill’s Surveilled explores the proliferation of commercial spyware technologies and their potential harm to privacy and democracy around the world.
The 61-minute documentary flips through interviews and examples quickly, creating a television episode atmosphere rather than a feature film (think Vice News videos circa 2015). It wastes no time, immediately establishing drama with journalist Ronan Farrow interviewing an anonymous source on a sidewalk in Tel Aviv.
Throughout the film, Farrow acts as both producer and subject. He walks and talks viewers through each step of his investigative process, from victims of surveillance to PR-filled interviews. The goal of this investigation is twofold: a feature in The New Yorker and this documentary to accompany it.
Using dramatic narration, Farrow explains that digital spying was first put on his radar when he was targeted while reporting on powerful figures like disgraced former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein. “I realized that the bleeding edge of surveillance is these digital tools and that they are getting way more powerful,” Farrow recounts.
The primary focus of Farrow’s investigation is NSO Group, an Israeli technology company that has come under fire in the past for allegedly selling its Pegasus software to oppressive governments and democracies flirting with hacking their own citizens.
Leveraging Farrow’s journalistic notoriety, Surveilled benefits from access to its sources. Simply gaining access to NSO Group’s office and employees is impressive, even if their answers were filtered through a public relations lens. An anonymous former NSO Group employee propelled Farrow’s investigation further, providing insight into the cost and customers of Pegasus.
As part of his examination of the industry, Farrow travels to the University of Toronto and interviews Citizen Lab director Rob Diebert at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. “We live in a time where there is obvious, well-documented democratic backsliding,” said Diebert. “Authoritarian practices are spreading worldwide. I firmly believe the surveillance industry, unchecked as it is, is one of the major contributing factors to those trends.”
Much of the film’s findings are not revelatory – activists and reporters have raised concerns about the insidious nature of commercial spyware for years. The Citizen Lab has released multiple reports examining the spyware industry, including NSO Group. Yet, the film is successful at introducing the subject to an audience that may be unfamiliar with commercial surveillance technologies and the dangers they pose.
The quick pacing feels appropriate given the tension the film seeks to garner and the mirroring of the urgency of the issue itself. However, it leaves little room for audiences to digest interviews and reflect on the information being presented. Farrow communicates what viewers should takeaway instead of providing the space and tools for audiences to reach this conclusion themselves.
Despite this, the topic is timely and critical – and that is reason enough to watch.
Surveilled is available to watch on Crave in Canada.
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery