EDRi joins coalition demanding that states implement a moratorium on the sale, transfer & use of surveillance technology
In this joint open letter, 146 civil society organisations and 28 independent experts worldwide call on states to implement an immediate moratorium on the sale, transfer and use of surveillance technology.
Alarmed by the Pegasus Project revelations that NSO Group’s spyware has been used to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale, the undersigned highlight the key human rights implications of this major exposé and issue a series of recommendations to states, as well as states that export surveillance technology.
These revelations are a result of the Pegasus Project and are based on the leak of 50,000 phone numbers of potential surveillance targets. The project is a collaboration of more than 80 journalists from 16 media organizations in 10 countries coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a Paris–based media non–profit, with the technical support of Amnesty International, who conducted forensic tests on mobile phones to identify traces of the Pegasus spyware.
The Pegasus Project’s revelations prove wrong any claims by NSO that such attacks are rare or anomalous, or arising from rogue use of their technology. While the company asserts its spyware is only used for legitimate criminal and terror investigations, it has become clear that its technology facilitates systemic abuse. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, “if the recent allegations about the use of Pegasus are even partly true, then that red line has been crossed again and again with total impunity.”