-
Governments across the world are accused of using NSO software to surveil activists, journalists, politicians, and more
-
Governments as well as the NSO Group deny this
Global human-rights watchdog Amnesty International has said the Israel-based NSO Group is “complicit” in the abuse of human rights.
It said in a new briefing: “All legal steps must be taken to unveil the full extent and nature of NSO complicity in human rights abuses.”
A week earlier, Amnesty and Paris-based media non-profit organization Forbidden Stories claimed governments across the world were used a spyware called Pegasus developed by NSO to surveil activists, journalists, politicians, and more.
To buttress their claim, they released a list of 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been identified as people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016.
Since then, many media outlets have picked up the story as governments accused of espionage using the software continue to deny it.
Israel, where NSO is based, is meanwhile starting a probe into the issue, even as the company itself says it will investigate any proof of “misuse” of its software.
Now, Amnesty has said it was clear that NSO technology enabled the human-rights violations revealed in the Pegasus Project.
It added that given that targeting has been found linked to the same countries in which NSO has previously been found, a reasonable person ought to have known the abuses were likely.
Amnesty International’s Secretary General was quoted as saying in a statement: “Private companies like NSO Group have shown they will flout their human rights responsibilities with impunity, all the while profiting from human rights abuse.”
She added: “By allowing NSO software to be used without taking adequate steps to protect our rights, states worldwide have allowed an unlawful system to flourish resulting in rampant human rights violations and abuses on a grand scale.”
She also said: “Meaningful control of the spyware industry is now urgently needed to stop further violations. All legal steps must be taken to unveil the full extent and nature of NSO complicity in human rights abuses.”