There is an urgent need for a moratorium on sale of spy tech

The Pegasus scandal demonstrated the dangers posed by the unchecked sale of surveillance technology to governments.

In July 2021, an investigation by a consortium of media outlets revealed that several governments used phone malware supplied by an Israeli firm to spy on journalists, activists, opposition figures and heads of state. The revelation that Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel-based NSO Group, has been used to hack the phones of thousands of unsuspecting individuals around the world raised new questions about the sale, purchase and use of such surveillance technology and its effects on the right to privacy as well as freedom of expression. Indeed, as Amnesty International recently said, the Pegasus scandal “exposed a global human rights crisis”. Now, this realisation must lead to a global moratorium on the sale and use of surveillance technology until a set of guidelines rooted in international human rights law is developed by states and international bodies to prevent the repeat of such abuses in the future.