World News | Lawmakers say EU has not addressed phone surveillance scandal

BRUSSELS, Nov. 8 (AP) — The European Union’s executive body and member states failed to properly handle a surveillance scandal targeting opposition politicians and journalists, the European Parliament’s inquiry into the EU government’s use of surveillance spyware said Tuesday.

In a draft report released on Tuesday, the committee investigating Pegasus said the European Council and governments were “implementing omertà” — or a code of silence — and shared only “reluctantly and piecemeal” with the European Commission. Sorry for the information about spyware attacks. employee.

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A spokesman for the committee responded that any attempt by state security to illegally access citizens’ data was “unacceptable” and insisted it had already begun taking action to protect journalists from spyware.

A parliamentary committee has been investigating the government’s use of Israel’s Pegasus spyware and other intrusive surveillance tools, citing such technology as a threat to the democracy of the 27-nation bloc.

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Developed by Israel’s NSO Group, Pegasus is designed to hack phones and extract a wealth of information from them, including text messages, passwords, locations, and microphone and camera recordings.

The company markets the technology as a tool against criminals, but has seen numerous cases around the world of governments using it against dissidents, journalists and political opponents.

According to EU lawmakers, NSO Group already sells its products in at least 14 EU countries.

“Spyware is used illegally in at least four member states, Poland, Hungary, Greece and Spain, and its use is suspected in Cyprus,” they said, adding that Cyprus and Bulgaria were export hubs for spyware. Spyware.

“Member governments have largely rejected invitations to cooperate with the PEGA committee,” the lawmaker said. “Some governments have refused to cooperate completely, others have been friendly and polite, but have not really shared meaningful information. Even to all member states Simple questionnaires were sent about the details of the country’s legal framework in which they use spyware and received little substantive responses.”

The committee also regretted that Europol, the European Union’s crime agency, had not launched an investigation into the matter.

“Only after being pressured by the European Parliament did it send a letter to five member states asking whether a police investigation had begun and if they could help,” the MPs said in their draft report.

The committee’s final findings will be voted on next year after debates with political groups in parliament and possible additions to amendments. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)