Bachelet: Misuse of Spyware Imperils Human Rights

GENEVA - The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has issued a warning about the misuse of surveillance technology in the wake of reports spyware was used to hack smartphones of human rights activists, business executives and journalists. Michelle Bachelet says the illegitimate use of the tools could undermine people’s human rights and subvert democratic societies.

It is not yet clear to what extent the Pegasus spyware developed and sold by the Israeli firm NSO Group has been used to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, opposition politicians and others. But Bachelet finds revelations that the telephones of some 50,000 people were hacked into extremely alarming. The high commissioner’s spokesman, Rupert Colville, calls the emerging information hugely disturbing and notes it may just be the tip of the iceberg. He told VOA the people whose phones were hacked are not Islamic State terrorists or criminals. He said they are journalists, human rights activists and others engaged in legitimate activities. “It is very scary. The potential is very severe and, I think a wake-up call to everyone that we need to do something about this. We need to find some way of controlling this. Putting this genie back into the bottle because it is potentially hugely intrusive and hugely dangerous in some cases for many of us,” Colville said.