Thu 10 November 2022:
By describing the rising use of the mercenary spyware, Pegasus, a new report from the European parliament published on Tuesday provided a grim image of the democracy within the European Union. Four EU nations—Hungary, Poland, Spain, and Greece—have been accused of utilizing spyware or similar technology against their citizens over the previous 18 months.
Reports suggest that the software developed by the Israeli-based company NSO Group, Pegasus, and its less sophisticated version, Predator are some of the most well-known brands in Europe. Once this spyware infiltrates a device it can extract data and allow real-time surveillance, find passwords, track location and even activate its camera or microphone to gather information about its owner.
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While the company claims that this software was designed to fight crime and terrorism, investigators have found that it is being used to snoop on journalists, activists, dissents as well as politicians across the world.
Speaking at a press conference, Dutch EU lawmaker Sophie in ‘t Veld presented the draft version of the report and said that in countries like Poland and Hungary the use of such spyware is an “integral element” of a system that is designed to “control and even oppress the citizens” which often include “critics of the government, opposition, journalists, whistleblowers.”
In some cases, the spyware also leads to illegitimate surveillance which is often based on vague justifications while the exemption of national security is repeatedly invoked in order to dodge accountability as well as maintain secrecy. In this context, the report says, the “rule of law turns into law of the ruler.”
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The liberal lawmaker who acted as rapporteur said that her team was forced to rely on publicly available resources as the EU governments refused to cooperate, “The spyware scandal is not a series of isolated national cases of abuse, but a full-blown European affair,” said the report.
Furthermore, in addition to the four aforementioned countries, the report also puts Cyprus under suspicion for the use of spyware. While Poland and Hungary have witnessed at least over a dozen cases of journalists and political opponents being illegally targeted, Greece has also been caught amid an escalating espionage scandal.
According to a separate report by Politico, at least 33 people in Greece including the phones of journalists, business people and lawmakers of the conservative New Democracy government, their families as well as the politicians of the main opposition Syriza party, had traces of the illegal spyware Predator on their devices.
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Meanwhile, in Spain, the spyware was detected on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s phone and the devices of several other national ministers as well as Catalan lawmakers, lawyers and civil society organisations. Earlier this year, a number of Catalan lawmakers had alleged that Spain’s intelligence authorities had used Pegasus software to hack their phones.
Margarita Robles, the Spanish defense minister, was fired earlier this year as a result of the Pegasus scandal’s aftermath. As pressure mounted in Greece, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was compelled to apologize and announce plans to outlaw spyware technology.
A similar plea for an immediate halt of such spyware until appropriate regulatory measures are in place has been made by a Dutch EU legislator. Additionally, she asserted that despite their denials, all 27 EU nations own malware. According to the research, nations like Bulgaria and Cyprus served as export centers for this spyware.
“Europe has been the hub for exports to dictatorships and oppressive regimes, such as Libya, Egypt and Bangladesh,” said the report. During the conference, ‘t Veld also acknowledged that these findings were largely based on the work of journalists and investigators and not confirmed by governments.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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