Amnesty denounces the lack of control of international surveillance systems on the anniversary of the Pegasus crisis

MADRID, 18 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Amnesty International denounced this Monday, the anniversary of the revelations about Project Pegasus, that the international community has still not agreed to a global suspension of the sale of spyware, with the consequent lack of control in international surveillance systems.

Amnesty recalls that governments around the world were using the invasive Pegasus spy program, from the NSO Group company, to "illegitimately" monitor human rights activists, political leaders, journalists and legal professionals.

Despite "certain steps in the right direction", those responsible for Amnesty believe that government action in this regard is still not enough.

"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.

Amnesty recalls that, over the last year, its Security Laboratory has discovered new attacks with Pegasus in Morocco and Western Sahara and in Poland. In addition, the laboratory has confirmed on its own that, in numerous cases, Pegasus was still being used to illegitimately attack certain people in countries such as El Salvador, Israel and Palestine, Poland and Spain.

"Project Pegasus came to remind us of 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 forward to fully address this digital surveillance crisis," Ingleton lamented.

There are currently open investigations and pending court cases against NSO Group in France, India, Mexico, Poland and Spain. In March, the European Parliament established the PEGA Commission to investigate the use of Pegasus and other spyware in Europe.

Additionally, in November 2021, the US government placed NSO Group on its Entity List for "conducting activities contrary to national security or foreign policy interests." That same month, Apple filed a lawsuit against NSO Group to seek responsibility for surveillance and attacks on Apple users.

In recent weeks it has emerged that L3Harris, a US defense contracting company, is negotiating to acquire ownership of the Pegasus software. The future of NSO Group remains uncertain.

"Any moves by NSO Group to change its business model to avoid accountability must be opposed. The entire surveillance industry has been crippled and urgently needs reform," says Ingleton.

"We continue to call for the worldwide suspension of the sale, transfer and use of spyware until human rights safeguards are put in place to regulate their use," it concludes.