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The rights group warns of “the devastating impact of the poorly regulated spyware industry on human rights around the world.”
Allegations that governments used malware for phones supplied by an Israeli company to spy on journalists, activists and heads of state “denounced a global human rights crisis,” Amnesty International said, calling for a moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance technologies.
In a Friday statement, the NGO warned of “the devastating impact of the poorly regulated spyware industry on human rights around the world.”
NSO Group’s Pegasus software – capable of turning on a phone’s camera or microphone and harvesting its data – is at the center of a storm after a list of around 50,000 potential surveillance targets is leaked to rights groups.
Amnesty International and the French nonprofit Forbidden Stories worked with several media companies, including the Washington Post, the Guardian and Le Monde, to analyze and publish the list.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who was on the list of suspected targets, had to change his phone and number.
“Not only does this expose the risks and harms for those unlawfully targeted, but also the extremely destabilizing consequences for human rights in the world and the security of the digital environment in general,” said Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty. , in the press release.
The Israeli group NSO “is just a company”.
“It is a dangerous industry that has operated on the edge of legality for too long, and it cannot continue,” she said.
“Now we urgently need stricter regulation of the cyber surveillance industry, accountability for human rights violations and abuses, and more oversight of this shadow industry. .
Amnesty called for an immediate moratorium on all export, sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology “until a regulatory framework consistent with human rights is in place”.
“The fact that the world and other political leaders themselves may have come under the crosshairs of spyware technology will hopefully serve as a long-time wake-up call for them and states around the world to step up and regulate this industry, ”Callamard said.
The list of suspected targets includes at least 180 journalists, 600 politicians, 85 human rights activists and 65 business leaders.
NSO insists that its software is only intended for use in the fight against terrorism and other crimes, and that it exports to 45 countries, with the approval of the Israeli government.
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