EU data watchdog urges European ban of Pegasus spyware

15 February 2022, 6:12 pm

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An Illustration of a man holding his phone with an NSO Group logo with a computer screen in the background, in Jerusalem, on February 7, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The European Data Protection Supervisor, an independent EU watchdog on privacy concerns, calls for a ban on Israel’s NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware within the European Union.

“A ban on the development and deployment of spyware with the capability of Pegasus in the EU would be the most effective option,” the EDPS writes in a new report. The organization says that the spyware, which infiltrates smartphones and can access all data available on the phone, is “incompatible with our democratic values.”

Spyware like Pegasus “has the potential to cause unprecedented risks and damages not only to the fundamental freedoms but also to democracy and the rule of law,” EDPS says.

NSO Group was blacklisted by the US government last year.