France investigates alleged spyware use against dissidents
Paris, Jul 20: The Paris prosecutor's office is investigating the suspected widespread use of spyware made by Israel-based NSO Group to target journalists, human rights activists and political dissidents.
The prosecutor's office said in a statement on Tuesday that it opened an investigation into a raft of potential charges, including violation of privacy, illegal use of data and illegally selling spyware.
As is common under French law, the investigation doesn't name a suspected perpetrator but is aimed at determining who might eventually be sent to trial. It was prompted by a legal complaint by two journalists and French investigative website Mediapart.
An investigation by a global media consortium published this week found more than 1,000 individuals in 50 countries who were allegedly selected by NSO clients for potential surveillance by its flagship Pegasus spyware. Among them were journalists and politicians in France.
Based on leaked data, the consortium identified the targets from a list of more than 50,000 cellphone numbers obtained by the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories and the human rights group Amnesty International and shared with 16 news organizations.
NSO Group denied that it ever maintained a list of potential, past or existing targets.
It called the Forbidden Stories report "full of wrong assumptions and uncorroborated theories."
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‘Hidden camera’ found in bathroom of TISS-Guwahati girls’ hostel, probe underway
Guwahati (PTI): The police have initiated an inquiry after a “hidden camera” was found in a bathroom of the girls’ hostel on the Guwahati campus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), an officer said on Friday.
The TISS authorities had intimated the police and filed a complaint in connection with the incident, he said.
“Based on the complaint, an investigation has been initiated,” the police officer said.
The TISS Guwahati, in a statement, had said that the recent incident was a “serious privacy violation, and is entirely unacceptable and condemnable”.
It said internal security protocols were being reviewed to ensure non-recurrence of any such incident in the future.
Support services are in place for the affected students, and the TISS is fully cooperating with the police in the case, the statement said.
