ΠΡΟΣΧΕΔΙΟ - ΕΚΘΕΣΗΣ PEGA

Introduction Europe's Watergate In summer 2021, the Pegasus Project, a collective of investigative journalists, NGOs and researchers, revealed a list of 50,000 persons who had been targeted with mercenary spyware. Among them, journalists, lawyers, prosecutors, activists politicians, and even heads of state. The most dramatic case may well be that of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist, who was savagely murdered in 2018 for his criticism of the Saudi regime. However, there were also many European targets on the list. Some had been targeted by actors outside the EU, but others were targeted by their own national governments. The revelations met with outrage around the world.

The scandal was quickly labelled "Europe's Watergate". However, rather than the political thriller "All the President's Men" about the burglary into the Watergate building in 1972, today's spyware scandal is reminiscent of the chilling movie "Das Leben der Anderen" (The Life of Others) depicting the surveillance of citizens by the totalitarian communist regime. Today's digital burglary with spyware is far more sophisticated and invasive, and hardly leaves any trace. The use of spyware goes far beyond the conventional surveillance of a person. It gives total access and control to the spying actors. Contrary to classic wiretapping, spyware does not only allow for real-time surveillance, but full, retroactive access to files and messages created in the past, as well as metadata about past communications. The surveillance can even be done at a distance, in countries anywhere in the world.

Spyware can be used to essentially take over a smart-phone and extract all its contents, including documents, images and messages. Material thus obtained can be used not only to observe actions, but also to blackmail, discredit, manipulate and intimidate the victims. Access to the victim's system can be manipulated and fabricated content can be planted. The microphone and camera can be activated remotely and turn the device into a spy in the room. All the while, the victim is not aware of anything.

Spyware leaves few traces on the victim's device, and even if it is detected it is nearly impossible to prove who was responsible for the attack.

The abuse of spyware does not just violate the right to privacy of individuals. It undermines democracy and democratic institutions by stealth. It silences opposition and critics, eliminates scrutiny and has a chilling effect on free press and civil society. It further serves to manipulate elections. The term "mercenary spyware" reflects very well the nature of the product and of the industry. Even failed attempts to infect a smart phone with spyware have political ramifications, and can harm the individual as well as democracy. Participation in public life becomes impossible without the certainty of being free and unobserved.

The spyware scandal is not a series of isolated national cases of abuse, but a full-blown European affair. EU Member State governments have been using spyware on their citizens for political purposes and to cover up corruption and criminal activity. Some went even further and embedded spyware in a system deliberately designed for authoritarian rule. Other Member State governments may not have engaged in abuse of spyware, but they have facilitated the obscure trade in spyware. Europe has become an attractive place for mercenary spyware. Europe has been the hub for exports to dictatorships and oppressive regimes, such as Libya, Egypt and Bangladesh, where the spyware has been used against human rights activists, journalists and government critics.

The abuse of spyware is a severe violation of all the values of the European Union, and it is testing the resilience of the democratic rule of law in Europe. In the past years, the EU has very rapidly built up its capacity to respond to external threats to our democracy, be it war, disinformation campaigns or political interference. By contrast, the capacity to respond to internal threats to democracy remain woefully underdeveloped. Anti-democratic tendencies can freely spread like gangrene throughout 3