EU WATCHDOG PUSHES FOR BAN ON SPYWARE PEGASUS DEVELOPED IN ISRAEL

Tue 15 February 2022:

On Tuesday, the European Union’s data protection watchdog urged for the controversial spyware tool Pegasus, produced by the Israeli-based NSO Group, to be banned.

The EDPS said use of Pegasus might lead to an “unprecedented level of intrusiveness, able to interfere with the most intimate
aspects of our daily lives.”

Israel has come under global pressure over allegations that Pegasus has been abused by some foreign client governments to
spy on human rights activists, journalists, and politicians.

NSO has said it could not confirm or deny any existing or potential customers for Pegasus. It said it does not operate the
system once sold to its governmental customers nor is it involved in any way in the system’s operation.

“A ban on the development and the deployment of spyware with the capability of Pegasus in the EU would be the most effective
option to protect our fundamental rights and freedoms”, the EDPS said.

“At the center of debate on tools like Pegasus should not only be the use of the technology, but the importance we attribute to the right to privacy.”

According to a report released last year by 17 media organizations led by the Paris-based non-profit journalism group Forbidden Stories, the spyware was used in attempted and successful hacks of journalists, government officials, and human rights activists’ smartphones on a global scale.

Last November, the US Commerce Department blacklisted NSO Group, barring it from access to US technology after saying its tools have been used to “conduct transnational repression”.

Apple subsequently sued the company, calling it “amoral 21st century mercenaries”.

Facebook is suing NSO Group in the US federal court for allegedly targeting some 1,400 WhatsApp users.

Lawsuits were also filed in 2018 in Israel and Cyprus by Al Jazeera journalists, as well as other Qatari, Mexican and Saudi journalists and activists who say the company’s spyware was used to hack their devices.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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