Amid Pegasus Row US Says Technology Use Against Civil Society, Regime Critics Concerning

Pegasus Row: "The whole notion of using this type of technology against civil society, or regime critics, or journalists, or anybody like that through extrajudicial means is always concerning," US's Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson told reporters

The US has said it is against the use of spying technology on civil society, regime critics and journalists, even as it maintained that it has no particular insight into the Pegasus issue in India. "The whole notion of using this type of technology against civil society, or regime critics, or journalists, or anybody like that through extrajudicial means is always concerning," US's Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Dean Thompson told reporters during a news conference in Washington on Friday. Last Sunday, an international media consortium reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two ministers, over 40 journalists, three Opposition leaders and one sitting judge besides scores of businesspersons and activists in India could have been targeted for hacking through the Pegasus spyware. The government has been denying all Opposition allegations over the matter.