The Netherlands hacks with Pegasus software: ‘MPs don’t understand’
According to former D66 MP Kees Verhoeven, the fact that the Netherlands uses the controversial digital espionage software Pegasus in hunting is due to a lack of interest in politics. In BNR Digitaal he says that there is ‘no framework’ about the implementation of hacking software by the government.
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An investigation by de Volkskrant showed that in the hunt for top criminal Ridouan Taghi, spy software Pegasus from the Israeli NSO Group was used. This commercial party offers hacking software that can be used to penetrate into iPhones, among other things.
According to Verhoeven, that’s where the shoe pinches. The Dutch government is doing business with a company that may also provide this software to regimes that ‘want to suppress them’. In addition, there is currently no clear framework against whom the government uses this tool. Those can be heavy. But they are also whistleblowers, activists or journalists’, says Verhoeven.
Laws pass through the Chamber without discussion
According to Verhoeven, political interest in this subject is very low. The laws that deal with digital investigation are passed without discussion by large parliamentary majorities. The implementation frameworks of the powers are certainly not discussed at all. ‘Many MPs don’t understand it, don’t have the time to delve into it and leave it to the specialized services.’
Also read | Omtzigt investigates use of controversial espionage software by AIVD
MP Pieter Omtzigt has recent parliamentary questions about the use of the Pegasus services. Verhoeven hopes that more MPs will join. However, determining afterwards what went wrong is not enough for the former D66 MP, ‘because we have to look to the future’. In advance, according to Verhoeven, the CDA was completely uncritical about the rule of law and security risks of government hacking powers.