Published July 20, 2021 at 11.07
Domestic. Tens of thousands of politicians, journalists and activists in different countries may have been spied on through a program developed by the Israeli company NSO Group.
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At least 50,000 phone numbers belonging to other journalists and activists may have been monitored using the Pegasus spyware.
The revelation comes from Project Pegasus, a collaboration between 80 journalists in 10 countries coordinated by the French organization Forbidden Stories and including Amnesty International.
So far, Project Pegasus research has been able to identify at least 180 journalists in 20 countries who may have been exposed to Israeli NSO Group's spy programs during the period 2016 and June 2021. These include countries such as Azerbaijan, Hungary, India and Morocco.
The family of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi has also been exposed.
– As a first step, the NSO Group must immediately shut down those systems where there are credible allegations of abuse. This is something that Project Pegasus now has overwhelming evidence of, says Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, in a statement. frivolous use of technology. The company is now criticizing Project Pegasus' revelation and claims that its spyware program is only used for legitimate criminal investigations and the fight against terrorism. But Project Pegasus clearly states that the technology enables systematic abuse.
– It is obvious that their actions point to the great lack of regulation of this technology, which has created a wild west for attacks on activists and journalists. Before the company and the industry as a whole can show that they respect human rights, we need to introduce an immediate moratorium on the export, sale and use of surveillance technology, says Agnès Callamard.