Lawmakers say EU isn’t tackling phone surveillance scandal

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — EU lawmakers investigating the use of surveillance spyware by the bloc’s governments have accused the EU’s executive arm and member countries of neglecting the surveillance scandal that targeted opposition politicians and journalists. The committee investigating Pegasus said Tuesday that national governments “are practicing omertà” — or a code of silence. Pegasus was developed by Israel’s NSO Group and is designed to breach mobile phones and extract vast amounts of information from them, including text messages, passwords, locations and microphone and camera recordings. The company markets the technology as a tool to target criminals but many cases have been discovered worldwide of governments using it against dissidents, journalists and political opponents.