Amnesty says NSO Pegasus spyware list has ‘numbers of interest’, read full statement here

Issuing a response to Israeli Spyware company NSO Group's denial of all 'snooping' allegations, Amnesty International Israel on Thursday clarified that list of 50,000 numbers it h uneard was not specifically snooped upon by using Pegasus. NGO ded that a list of numbers that were of interest to NSO customers was shortlisted to be allegedly spied upon by regimes across world. Claiming that re was no certainity that Pegasus was used for alleged snooping, Amnesty claimed that NSO h no mechanism to verify if ir software was being misused by its clients.

Amnesty says 'not certain if Pegasus was used'

" truth is that Amnesty has never presented this list as "NSO's Pegasus Spyware List", although some of world's media may have done so. Amnesty, and investigative journalists and media outlets in which y work, me it clear from outset in very clear language that this is 'A list of numbers marked as numbers of interest to NSO customers', which are different regimes in world. Amnesty International and its research partners also published a detailed methodological report describing exactly how analysis was conducted," re statement.

It ded, "It is a list indicative of interests of company's clients, who have expressed interest in following journalists and human rights activists, political rivals, lawyers, and so on. Within 50,000 list, re was a narrower list of numbers that inquiry identified as being under some surveillance, although re is no certainty that Pegasus spyware from NSO was used for this. Once a Pegasus spyware is sold to entities known to be human rights violators - governments or or entities - NSO apparently has no ability to verify that re is indeed no abuse of system unless a complaint is filed".

Lashing out at Israeli government, it concluded, "While international standards require pre-sale discretion for human rights violators, Israeli law requires only approval of Ministry of Defense, which is limited only by Security Council resolutions. Most of responsibility falls on Defense Export Control Division in Ministry of Defense, which does not do its job faithfully".  'Pegasus' owner NSO Group has highlighted that list does not 'identify who puts numbers on it or why', refuting all allegations. Centre too has refuted allegations terming news investigation 'a fishing expedition'.

What is Pegasus row?

A report by sixteen media houses claimed that 300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers were allegedly spied upon using Israeli surveillance technology firm Pegasus - which only has 36 vetted governments as its clients. As per a 'leaked' database, numbers of those allegedly spied upon include over 40 journalists, three major opposition figures, one constitutional authority, two serving cabinet ministers, current and former hes, and officials of security organizations and businessmen. target also includes eight activists currently accused of Bhima Koregaon case. report claimed that leaked numbers mainly belong to ten countries - India, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.