Guy De Launay
Appearances
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
So Amnesty International says it's uncovered the use of multiple different kinds of spyware by the Serbian authorities. And this spyware is targeting phones, specifically phones belonging to journalists, to civil society activists, to people involved in protests.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
And the really interesting aspect, if you follow your spyware news, is that one of the apps that they've discovered was developed locally in Serbia, and it gets onto your phone, and if the phone is able to be cracked, and then it can start spying on you. There's also been detections of the already internationally notorious spyware Pegasus as well. I mean, is this a surprising claim?
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
Well, I mean, Pegasus is, in essence, it's available to governments to use around the world. There have been scandals involving it. Another tool that the Serbian authorities were found to have been using by Amnesty International was developed by an Israeli company called Celebrite. That enables law enforcement officers to unlock phones which are otherwise locked.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
And then the accusation from Amnesty is that while the phones were unlocked, the authorities got busy installing spyware. But yes, I mean, authorities have been known around the world to do this to various people for various reasons. And the software has been developed for that very reason. It's the way in which Serbia is using it, which Amnesty is highlighting.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
saying that it's in essence a campaign of harassment against journalists and civil society activists who are just legitimately going about their business and have no reason to be the target of this sort of law enforcement activity.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
The intelligence agency known as the BIA has responded because they were specifically accused by Amnesty International of being involved in installing the spyware. And they said that regarding the Amnesty International report, which they put in inverted commas, they say that they can only state the trivial sensationalism of its content indicates the purpose of Amnesty International.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
which is reflected in its working for the interests of individual agencies and pressure groups. So it's not even able to comment on the meaningless statements in their text, just as we do not otherwise comment on similar content. So in other words, they're saying that Amnesty is working for the opposition groups, which it says are being hacked.
Global News Podcast
French ministers arrive in Mayotte after devastating cyclone
It's a fairly predictable response, but it doesn't perhaps make people feel any better about what's going on regarding the Serbian authorities.