The NSO Group Fails to Comply with Human Rights Obligations
Nearly eight NGOs have sent a joint letter to the NSO Group, an Israeli surveillance company, accusing it of failing to keep many of the undertakings it had offered to respect and implement the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
The citizen lab researchers revealed that NSO’s spy software called Pegasus was used by the suspected state-funded attackers to monitor 36 private cell phones that belonged to the employees of the Qatari news broadcaster Al Jazeera, in 2020. They also revealed that these attackers had ties with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the two countries which were already locked in a geopolitical conflict with Qatar, the owner of the Al Jazeera TV Network.
The hostility among the regional blocs has led to an increase in offensive cyber operations. Qatar too has retaliated by using similar means. It took help from Global Risk Advisors (GRA), a US-based consulting firm, to launch its offensive cyber operations against the attackers. Not only did it extract information on Broidy’s email account but also signed a bilateral agreement with Turkey in a technological sphere.
At present, the NSO Group is facing lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions around the world regarding the usage of Pegasus spyware and for targeting an associate of the murdered journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, and other 1,400 WhatsApp users.
The NGO coalition has asked the NSO Group to provide valid information to prove that Pegasus software is not implicated to spy upon dissidents, journalists and human rights defenders and in violations of international human rights law.
Natalia Krapiva from Access Now, a non-profit organisation with legal entities across all regions of the world criticised the NSO Group. She said, the NSO claims are “nothing but smoke and mirrors,” and the abuses facilitated by the spyware have only surged over time. Christian Mihr, Executive Director, Reporters Without Borders, another NGO, warned that the company had entered into “public commitments”. It should not be “a mere PR campaign”. The commitments must also be implemented.
