Amnesty International Calls for Ban on Surveillance Technology
Paris: Journalists, social volunteers, and heads of state have exposed the possible global human rights crisis over reports of India’s usage of Israel’s Pegasus software for espionage. As such, Amnesty International has called for a ban on the sale and use of spyware.
Reports state that Amnesty International has warned that spyware is having destructive results on human rights. The organization and the French media, in collaboration with certain other media companies, reviewed and published a list of about 50,000 mobile phone numbers.
Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said in a statement that this has not only exposed the dangers and harms of illegally targeting individuals, but also the possible global human rights crises and the fragile security of the digital environment.
She stated that NSO, the Israeli company that made Pegasus, is just one of many companies involved in this.
“This is a dangerous industry that has been operating legally for a long time and cannot be allowed to continue,” she said.
“We urgently need more rules and regulations in the cyber-surveillance industry. Human rights violations could occur and accountability must be taken. This was an oversight on part of the industry,” she said.
Pakistan has condemned this issue and its implications.
Strongly condemning India’s use of the Israeli spyware Pegasus for large-scale government-sponsored covert surveillance and operations, Pakistan has said that India’s attitude was a violation of international norms and responsibilities.
The Foreign Office spokesman’s statement came days after 17 media outlets reported that India was one of the few countries in the world to use this software to assassinate journalists. Government officials’ and human rights volunteers’ smartphones have been successfully hacked, reports state.
According to reports, there was a number in the list India had that was once used by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
It should be noted that the Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde and other news agencies have participated in the investigation into this software.
The Post reported that India had monitored more than a thousand phone numbers, hundreds of which belonged to Pakistan, including a number used by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. The Post, however, did not specify if monitoring Imran Khan’s number was successful or not.
The Indian news website The Wire reported that 300 numbers were monitored in India, which included government ministers, opposition politicians, journalists, and human rights volunteers.
The report said that more than 40 journalists from major news organizations such as Hindustan Times, The Hindu, and The Indian Express were among those monitored, as well as two founding editors of The Wire.
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