On Thursday 2 December, 86 NGOs wrote to High Representative Josep Borrell and EU foreign ministers about the Israeli spyware Pegasus, which, according to a collective survey published over the summer, is used by some Member States, such as Hungary, to spy on journalists (see EUROPE 12765/8).
The letter, supported by Human Rights Watch, asks the Commission to sanction the company NSO Group, which created the software, and to ban its sale and use. On 3 December, the US added the company to the US Department of Commerce’s blacklist for “engaging in activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests”, and NGOs want similar action.
On Monday 29 November, the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties discussed the issue with the journalists behind the revelations and deplored the Commission’s inaction on the scandal and the software.
The Commission has received this letter and will respond as soon as it has analysed it, the institution briefly commented on 3 December. Link to the letter: https://bit.ly/31utRu1 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)