1.  The following are excerpts from a news report, dated July 19, under the headline "Outrage Builds Over Report Of Alleged Use Of Spyware On Press, Activists".

(Begin excerpts)
Politicians and media rights groups across the world have voiced outrage after a new report alleged several governments, including EU-member Hungary, used an Israeli program to hack the smartphones of journalists, officials, and rights activists worldwide.

An investigation by 17 media organizations and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), released late on July 18, has drawn links between the Israeli-based NSO Group, accused of supplying spyware to governments, and a leaked database of up to 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been identified as people of interest by clients of the company since 2016.

The NSO Group clients included the governments of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the report.

The report has sent a chill across the world by bolstering accusations that not just autocratic regimes but democratic governments, including India and Mexico, have used the NSO Group's Pegasus spyware for political ends.

"Revelations regarding the apparent widespread use of the Pegasus software to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, and others in a variety of countries are extremely alarming, and seem to confirm some of the worst fears about the potential misuse of surveillance technology to illegally undermine people's human rights," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement on July 19.

NSO denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that its Pegasus software was intended for use against criminals and terrorists and is made available only to military, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies from countries with good human rights records.....

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted that while the information still had to be verified, "if it is the case, it is completely unacceptable. Against any kind of rules we have in the European Union," she said during a visit to Prague after Hungary, one of the bloc's 27 members, appeared on the client list.

"Freedom of media, free press is one of the core values of the EU. It is completely unacceptable if this (hacking) were to be the case," she added.

The list of names includes 189 journalists, more than 600 politicians and government officials, at least 65 business executives, 85 human rights activists, and several heads of state, according to The Washington Post, a consortium member.

The journalists work for organizations including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, and the Financial Times....

In Europe, the report was a stinging blow to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been accused by the EU of flouting democracy with a series of laws seen as curtailing a free press and human rights.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto rejected the allegations, telling a press conference on July 19 that Hungary's civilian intelligence agency did not use the Pegasus software "in any way."

"The government has no knowledge of this type of data collection," Szijjarto added.

Pegasus infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators to record phone calls, access text messages, photos, e-mails, and passwords, track GPS data, and secretly activate microphones and cameras.

The report has sent a chill across the world by bolstering accusations that not just autocratic regimes but democratic governments, including India and Mexico, have used NSO Group's Pegasus spyware for political ends.

The investigation has identified more than 1,000 people spanning over 50 countries whose numbers were on the list, including more than 180 journalists from outlets such as CNN, The New York Times, and Al-Jazeera.  (End excerpts)

Source:  rferldotorg

2.  ...In the wake of the report, the U.S. government said it would no longer use the "compulsory legal process" including subpoenas or warrants to obtain records or identify sources from journalists involved in news-gathering activities.

The new policy comes following revelations that former President Donald Trump's Justice Department secretly obtained phone records of journalists investigating his administration, including from CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.....

Source:  rferldotorg

3.  The above article once again reveals America's double standards.  The "Me First" ex-president goes unpunished for secretly gathering phone records of journalists investigating his administration.  The US often accuses others of committing all sorts of crimes while sweeping its misdeeds under the carpet.