Amnesty International: Spyware Like “Pegasus” Still Operating

By: MRT Desk

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The humanitarian organization Amnesty International (AI) pointed out this Monday (07.18.2022) that, a year after the revelations about the Pegasus Project there is still no agreement on the global suspension of the sale of spyware, with which the surveillance sector continues to operate without control, as has happened in the last year with individual attacks in Spain.

In a statement, the non-governmental organization points out that this project revealed how governments around the world were using the spyware Pegasusof the company NSO Group to illegitimately monitor human rights activists, political leaders, journalists, and legal professionals.

After repeated calls to regulate the surveillance sector, certain steps have been taken in the right direction, but the actions of governments are still not enough, points out the human rights organization.

“One year after the spyware revelations Pegasus shocked the world, it is alarming that surveillance companies continue to profit from human rights violations committed on a global scale,” said Danna Ingleton, deputy director of Amnesty Tech, a group part of AI. “The Pegasus Project came to recall the need to act urgently to regulate a sector that lacks control. It is shameful that the world’s governments continue to fail to step up to fully address this digital surveillance crisis,” he added.

“Any person who has been attacked with spyware from NSO Group You have the right to an effective remedy. The lack of comprehensive measures by governments around the world is an insult to those who have suffered physically or psychologically as a result of attacks by this invasive software“, he pointed out. Ingleton added that the “selective and illegitimate surveillance” of human rights defenders and civil society is “an instrument of repression”, so “the time has come to bring this sector under control, which continues to operate in the shadows”.

Throughout 2022, AI has discovered new attacks with Pegasus in Morocco, Western Sahara, and Poland, while it has confirmed that, in numerous cases, it was still being used to attack certain people in countries such as El Salvador, Israel, Palestine, and Spain. “Unlawful surveillance” violates the right to privacy, and may also violate the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, association, and peaceful assembly, according to AI.

Amnesty International says it has been investigating this type of surveillance for many years and highlights growing evidence of human rights violations by governments.

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