The leader of Poland’s nationalist, ruling party has acknowledged that his country has bought Israeli Pegasus surveillance software, but has denied allegations that it was used against the opposition, which has been rocked by weeks of protests.
This software, once installed on a mobile phone, allows access to the messages and data contained in it, while it can activate the device remotely to record audio and video.
“It would be ugly for the Polish services not to have such a tool,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, chairman of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) and deputy prime minister, told Sieci magazine.
Asked about allegations that the government used the software to monitor the opposition, Kaczynski said Pegasus was “used by crime and anti-corruption services in many countries”.
In an interview Monday, the PiS president said the methods were being used “under the supervision of a court and the prosecutor’s office.”
The Citizen Lab, a Canadian-based cybersecurity watchdog, has confirmed the use of Pegasus against three people in Poland, including Christoph Breiza, a senator from the main opposition Politburo (PO) 2019 parliamentary elections.
John Scott-Rilton, a lead researcher at Citizen Lab, said the center’s findings were nothing more than “the tip of the iceberg”, adding that the use of the software showed “a slip towards authoritarianism” in Poland.
According to Breiza, the monitoring of his mobile phone affected the outcome of the elections, in which PiS won.
Kaczynski, however, denied the allegations, saying the opposition “lost because it lost.”
“No Pegasus, no service, no information obtained secretly, of any nature, played the slightest role in the 2019 election campaign,” he stressed.
Source: AMPE
Read also:
.
Source From: Capital
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
