We’re Not Prepared to Live in This Surveillance Society
Democratic governments must do better to protect citizens from sophisticated spyware.
French President Emmanuel Macron holds a national security meeting to discuss Pegasus spyware.
Photographer: Ludovic Marin/AFP
Last week, an investigation by Amnesty International and several media outlets alleged that 37 heads of state, reporters, human rights activists and businessmen had been hacked with spyware developed by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group. The names came from a leaked list of 50,000 mobile phone numbers of individuals regarded “as people of interest” by NSO’s government clients. Around 600 of them are politicians or heads of state, ranging from French President President Emmanuel Macron to the King of Morocco.
NSO denies the charges. But the revelations as well as other evidence suggest that gross violations of privacy are becoming a norm rather than an exception. Traditional state agencies are struggling to keep pace.