Polish PM accuses last government of PEGASUS illegal use

[Jaga]

There was a big confrontation yesterday between president Duda and Donald Tusk, who brought documents showing who was invigilated by PEGASUS spyware program sold by Israel to many countries.

www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/polish-pm-accuses-last-government-of-widespread-illegal-use-of-pegasus/

Polish PM accuses last government of widespread illegal use of Pegasus



WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s new prime minister says he has documentation proving that state authorities under the previous government used the powerful Pegasus spyware illegally and targeted a “very long” list of hacking victims.

Donald Tusk makes the announcement during a news briefing alongside President Andrzej Duda, a political opponent aligned with the previous ruling party. The use of Pegasus is alleged to have occurred under the government led by the right-wing Law and Justice party.

Pegasus gives operators complete access to a mobile device, allowing them to extract passwords, photos, messages, contacts and browsing histories, and to activate the microphone and camera for real-time eavesdropping.

Tusk says he’s sharing information with Duda that showed wide use of the spyware in Poland.

“This is only a sample of the documents that are at your disposal, Mr. President,” he says at the start of a meeting of the Cabinet Council, a consultation format between the president and the government. Duda called the meeting to discuss other matters.

The prime minister says he asked the justice minister and prosecutor general to provide Duda with documents which “confirm 100% the purchase and use of Pegasus in a legal and illegal manner.”

The president has not publicly responded.

Tusk took power in December following an October election which he won as the head of a broad centrist alliance. It marked the end of eight years of rule by Law and Justice, a populist party that the European Union accused of eroding democratic norms.

The new parliament has set up a special commission to investigate who used Pegasus and against whom during Law and Justice’s years in government.

“The list of victims of these practices is unfortunately very long,” Tusk says. That list has not been publicly released.

Several Polish opponents of the previous government were targeted with Pegasus, a spyware program made by Israel’s NSO Group, according to findings by the University of Toronto’s nonprofit Citizen Lab that were exclusively reported by The Associated Press.

[karl]

Jaga

It is understandable of these people to be upset for that spyware is very powerful and the Israelis should never have let it out of Israel.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)

Karl

[pieter]

I have to say that I completely agree with Karl 100%.

[Jaga]

Israel provided this software for many countries. I guess, they are getting lots of money for it and maybe they are able to listen to everybody also....

[Jaga]

Here is more about Pegasus probe that was just launched:

Poland launches Pegasus spyware probe


www.politico.eu/article/poland-pegasus-spyware-probe-law-and-justice-pis-jaroslaw-kaczynski/
WARSAW — The Polish parliament on Monday launched an investigation into whether the former government misused Pegasus hacking software to spy on its political opponents.

Setting up the Pegasus probe was one of the current government’s top campaign pledges ahead of October's general election.

The use of the Israeli surveillance software was brought to light through an investigation by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, a digital security nonprofit.

Poland was one of four countries, along with Hungary, Spain, and Greece, where it was reported that the spyware was used against the political opposition, members of civil society and journalists.

A Polish investigation commission now aims to quiz top officials from the former Law and Justice (PiS) government, including party chief Jarosław Kaczyński.

Kaczyński has previously confirmed the government's possession of the Pegasus hacking software. But he has consistently denied it was used against opposition politicians during the 2019 parliamentary election campaign.

“It’s all overblown,” Kaczyński said last week. "Everything … was in line with Polish national interest, with the needs of the security services to combat crime and espionage.”

The ruling coalition alleges PiS used Pegasus both to spy on its enemies and to keep an eye on its own members.

"The scale of [the] surveillance is shocking," Justice Minister Adam Bodnar told the Oko.press news outlet.

Other top officials facing a summons to appear before the commission include former PiS Prime Minister Beata Szydło, former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, and former PiS MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik — who headed the interior ministry and were recently pardoned by President Andrzej Duda following their conviction in an old corruption case.

Kamiński denounced the commission as "a political game with Poland's security," adding: "The secret service always acted in accordance with the law. I look forward to presenting the truth to the public as soon as possible."

Magdalena Sroka, the MP heading the commission, told reporters after the first meeting of the panel: “Too long we’ve been lied to about Pegasus by PiS and we’re going to get to the bottom of it now."

Krzysztof Brejza, an MEP for Tusk's Civic Coalition whose phone was allegedly hacked when he ran the party's campaign in 2019, will also appear.

“This commission will determine not just the people responsible for the use of Pegasus but also [the] people who were attacked: politicians, lawyers, journalists, and ordinary people,” Sroka said.