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Article

16 Aug 2019

Author:
Likhita Banerji, Amnesty International

Commentary: Govts. collaborate with surveillance companies to shrink space for human rights work

"A Dangerous Alliance: Governments Collaborate with Surveillance Companies to Shrink the Space for Human Rights Work," 16 August 2019

[S]tates are often able to justify surveillance of HRDs in the name of ‘national security’…with the advent of new and more sophisticated technology, coupled with repressive laws, the threat of targeted surveillance has become even more urgent.

…Governments are increasingly contracting…the private digital surveillance industry to develop insidious technology for the targeted digital surveillance of HRDs. This technology is used to track, monitor and intimidate human rights defenders, journalists, and political dissidents…Companies such as NSO Group in Israel and Luxembourg, Finfisher in UK and Germany and Hacking Team in Italy are just some of the players in this secretive yet highly profitable industry. 

[T]he governments and the companies selling to them claim that that the technology is only used for lawful purposes, such as against terrorists and criminals. However…[civil society organizations] have uncovered targeted campaigns against HRDs, which use technology that is marketed by many of these commercial surveillance companies…in Azerbaijan, HRDs under the threat of surveillance have been forced to flee their home and find it hard to communicate with their loved ones out of fear that they too will be targeted. In Uzbekistan, even after HRDs…have left their homes, they have remained targets of surveillance campaigns. [See previous allegations and responses from NSO Group here and here and Finfisher here.]