MEPs are asking Brussels for more powers to curb the use of spyware in the EU. Report Ft
In March, MEPs set up a commission to investigate the use of Pegasus spyware and other surveillance technologies in the EU. A report will be published on November 8, anticipates the Ft
Members of the European Parliament will call for "federal" powers to be given to Brussels to enforce laws aimed at curbing the misuse of spyware, following concerns that member states often have little incentive to follow the rules. The Financial Times reports it.
Sophie in 't Veld, a Dutch MEP who oversees a report to be published on 8 November on how this technology is used, is also calling for more powers to be given to Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency. Currently it can only operate with the consent of the Member States.
In March, MEPs set up a commission to investigate the use in the EU of NSO's Israeli spy software Pegasus and other surveillance technologies. Two months later, it emerged that Pegasus spying software was used to hack the cell phones of senior officials, including that of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez – the first confirmed use against an incumbent head of government.
The software is able to penetrate a mobile phone and copy its encrypted content. Last year, Pegasus was used to target the smartphones of 37 journalists, human rights activists and other prominent figures. The NSO denied the claims.
According to sources familiar with the dossier, the report will come under severe pressure, in particular from EU states that spy on citizens for political reasons. Hacking software was reportedly used in Greece, Spain, Hungary and Poland against opposition members and journalists.
It is up to the European Commission, the EU's executive body, to propose new legislation to be negotiated between the Commission, Parliament and Member States.
In 't Veld hopes the report will show the scale of the problem and generate the political momentum needed to ensure the drafting of new laws. He told the Financial Times that the scale of the problem is much more serious than previously thought. ”This is not a handful of governments spying on their citizens, but all of Europe. All governments use these things, some abuse them, ”he stressed. “The different EU member states play different roles in a scheme that extends across Europe. A country is the preferred destination for financial transactions. Another is the hub for international trade. A third provides gold passports to spyware company executives, ”he said in 't Veld, referring respectively to Luxembourg, Cyprus and Malta. "The whole business is intertwined with governments and state funding."
He added that the authorities' attitude towards the enforcement of the rules on the use of spy software has shifted from "presumption of conformity [by Member States] to pretense of conformity". As a result, in 't Veld demands that Brussels have more powers, such as those enjoyed by the federal government of the United States.
“There have been two major attacks on democracy in the United States: Watergate and January 6th. But at least they have the federal institutions that can address this problem, ”he said. "They have the FBI, they have Congress, which has full investigative powers, they have a federal Department of Justice that can investigate and intervene."
"We cannot have an open European Union if we do not have all these supranational tools for applying the rules," he added.
The report will also call for blacklisting of companies that do not abide by the rules of the blockade, but will not call for an outright ban on Pegasus. In 't Veld said the use of spyware to threaten people's privacy and to blackmail politicians has become "a veritable poison for our democracy", adding that there is a trace of Russian infiltration everywhere. turns.
“On the one hand we all say that our democracy and our free society are attacked from the outside by the Russians, but they are also under attack from the inside. We are completely defenseless ”, observed the MEP. “It is not just a threat to the privacy of individuals. It is a threat to democracy, because they use it against journalists, politicians, lawyers, activists. It is a real poison for our democracy ”.
(Extract from the press review of eprcomunicazione)
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/gli-eurodeputati-chiedono-a-bruxelles-maggiori-poteri-per-frenare-luso-di-spyware-nellue-report-ft/ on Sun, 30 Oct 2022 06:00:54 +0000.