A petition launched by the human rights organization, asking for an immediate moratorium on these technologies, has been signed by more than 100,000 people.
Le Monde
The human rights organization Amnesty International will deposit this October 27, a petition, signed by 100,000 people, as October 27, asking the International Organization to put an end to “the sale, [the] transfer and the Use of spy software “, in order to” end surveillance, illegal and endemic, political activists, journalists, lawyers and political leaders “in many countries.
Amnesty International and the signatories of the text require a prohibition, immediate but temporary, of these technologies, pending the establishment “of a legislative framework which protects human rights”, while A resolution on privacy in the digital age will be debated in the United Nations.
Spy software, which allows you to read the calls and messages sent or received by a phone, but also to follow a person’s movements, are at the heart of multiple scandals. Le Monde and its partners in the “Pegasus project”, coordinated by the French organization Forbidden Stories, had revealed in 2021 the extent of electronic surveillance practiced by several states thanks to the PEGASUS spy software. Among the victims were in particular human rights activists, lawyers, heads of state or government, or French journalists from Mediapart, the world or the Duck chained.
In Europe, several countries are suspected of having used Pegasus or other spy software outside the legal framework. Several dozen activists for the independence of Catalonia accuse the Spanish state of having infected their phones; In Hungary as in Poland, political opponents are also among the targets of Pegasus. In Greece, the intelligence services used Predator software to listen to the leader of the Socialist Party and at least two journalists, triggering a major political scandal.
“Spy software is a global crisis,” said Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International in a press release. “[These software] is used to silence and intimidate political activists, journalists and lawyers. United Nations member states must stop using, and tolerate, the use of spy software as a repression tool . “
European parliamentary survey
Until now, most major countries have shown little eagerness to tackle laws on these software – intelligence services are the main users of these spy software and wish to continue to buy them. However, the situation has evolved recently, especially in the United States, where the Biden administration has placed the publisher of Pegasus, the Israeli company NSO, on its black list of companies with which American companies have no right to conclude Contracts.
In Europe, the Dutch European MP Sophia In’t Veld (Renew Europe) must make public on November 8 a report containing the conclusions of the European Parliamentary Inquiry Commission on Espions software, launched after the revelations of the “Project Pegasus “. Human rights activists hope that this parliamentary investigation will lead to a net hardening of the legislation on these software in Europe.
less powerful spy software than Pegasus or Predator, but just as dangerous for privacy, are also marketed – illegally in most countries – by private companies for the general public. These software, mainly purchased to monitor spouses or children, is regularly mentioned in domestic violence files.