Pegasus: the invisible spy

 POLITICSEUROPE 

The EU Watergate? Pegasus spyware scandal grows

https://p.dw.com/p/4JE9V

POLITICSEUROPE

The EU Watergate? Pegasus spyware scandal grows

Ella Joyner

11/08/2022November 8, 2022

Revelations about reported surveillance of journalists and politicians with spyware continue to surface in the European Union. Four EU member states have been accused of illegitimate snooping.

https://p.dw.com/p/4JE9V

Would you like to browse the contents of a cellphone in the interest of national security? If you have millions of dollars and are a government agency, you could try approaching the NSO Group, an Israeli company that has sold its Pegasus spyware to scrupulous governments worldwide, and its products in 14 EU states, according to the European Parliament.

Pegasus infiltrates mobile phones to extract data or activate a camera or microphone to spy on owners. The company says the tech is designed to fight crime and terrorism, but it has been found by investigators to have been used on journalists, activists, dissidents and politicians worldwide.

In the past eighteen months, Hungary, Poland, Spain and Greece have all been accused of using Pegasus or equivalent technology against citizens or politicians.

Spyware 'integral' to systematic oppression in Poland, Hungary

In Poland and Hungary, use of such spyware is an "integral element" of a "system, which is designed to control and even oppress the citizens — that is, critics of the government, opposition, journalists, whistleblowers," said Dutch EU lawmaker Sophie in 't Veld on Tuesday, as she presented a damning interim European Parliamant report.

The liberal politician led the report as part of a committee of EU parliamentarians conducting an inquiry. She has visited Israel, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Cyprus so far and has called for an immediate moratorium on such spyware pending proper regulation.

For Greece, where allegations of surveillance of opposition politicians and journalists continue to surface, the situation was less severe but there were also signs of systematic use "as part of a political strategy," she said.

In Spain, where many pro-Catalan independence figures but also Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were reportedly targeted, there were "strong indications" that politicians and others were being watched without an appropriate serious national security justification, the politician noted.

The EU Watergate? Pegasus spyware scandal grows

Ella Joyner

11/08/2022November 8, 2022

Revelations about reported surveillance of journalists and politicians with spyware continue to surface in the European Union. Four EU member states have been accused of illegitimate snooping.