TechDigits

Tech news
Sunday, May 28, 2023

EU spyware probe has a problem: Spain

EU spyware probe has a problem: Spain

Lawmakers accused of ‘protecting allies’ by inviting criticized scholars to committee hearing.

Spain is proving the most troublesome country to probe in EU lawmakers’ ongoing investigation into spyware use around the bloc. 

The Iberian kingdom is the largest EU country where the use of hacking tools by governments has kicked off a major institutional crisis. 65 figures in the Catalan separatist movement were targeted, as well as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles. As the scandal spiraled, the Madrid government sacked its intelligence chief and launched an investigation. 

European lawmakers involved in the special inquiry committee PEGA — named after the notorious Israeli-made spyware tech Pegasus — are investigating the use of spyware in Europe. In past months they visited key countries enveloped in crises, including Hungary, Poland, Greece and even Israel. But they have yet to secure a visit to Spain.

“Spain is the biggest spyware scandal in Europe ... However, there has not been any strong reaction from the PEGA inquiry committee," said Saskia Bricmont, a Belgian Greens lawmaker and member of the PEGA Committee.

Critics have pointed fingers to the European Parliament's two largest political groups for blocking scrutiny. On the one hand, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) picked as its coordinator on the committee Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez, Spain's former interior minister in the period when some of the reported spyware security incidents on Catalan opposition were going on. On the other, the center-left Socialists & Democrats group (S&D) includes Spain’s governing party, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. 


Spain's former interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez

"The biggest political groups have been actively preventing further scrutiny for Spain and Catalonia," Bricmont said.

Zoido declined to comment. The S&D did not respond to POLITICO's questions in time for publication.

Now, a committee hearing about the Spanish crisis, scheduled for Tuesday, has added more fuel to the fire.

Renowned spyware expert John Scott-Railton, whose work has been fundamental in exposing the use of hacking tools across the world, pulled out over claims that the committee had invited speakers who promoted “conspiracy theories.” Those included Spanish academic Jose Javier Olivas and computer scientist Gregorio Martín, who, Scott-Railton argued, undermined respected research like his own and those of like-minded digital rights groups.

“We are in a globally recognized spyware crisis. Amplifying denialists distracts from much-needed solutions,” Scott-Railton told POLITICO. “As a researcher, I welcome debate and scrutiny, but lending credibility to disinformation is irresponsible.”


Members 'protect political allies'


The PEGA Committee last week withdrew its invitation to Olivas after a letter from Citizen Lab and other NGOs, as well as around a dozen researchers including from Google, warned that he and Martín are “non-credible.”

According to the letter, Olivas promotes “conspiracy theories” and false claims about researchers, spyware victims and institutions. Groups also criticized Martín, a Valencia University computer scientist, for his role as academic peer reviewer of a much-criticized paper on the Spanish spyware scandal titled “Uncovering the Citizen Lab — An Analytical and Technical Review Disproving Catalangate," which attempts to debunk research into the Spanish spying scandal but has been widely discredited by researchers in the field.

Olivas has hit back against the allegations, accusing some PEGA members of “colluding with a haphazard attempt of defamation against me,” in an email to MEPs seen by POLITICO.

Initially the Liberal group Renew Europe proposed Olivas, while the EPP invited Martín, according to two people with knowledge of the discussion who spoke on a condition of anonymity.

According to the two people, the committee agreed to ditch Olivas in favor of Andreu Van den Eynde, a lawyer who has been targeted with spyware, following a meeting on Tuesday last week. There wasn’t a majority to rescind Martin’s invite, however, the sources said. Martín is scheduled to speak at the hearing on Tuesday November 29, the program released Monday showed.

The biggest political groups "reduced the place of victims in the hearing to the bare minimum with only one targeted person, and are giving the floor to a known conspiracy theorist,” Bricmont said.

But other members of parliament voiced concerns that expert voices were being "censored."

In an email seen by POLITICO, Jordi Cañas Pérez, a Spanish MEP from the centrist Renew Europe grouping, said it was “very concerning … that a renowned scholar was censored and vetoed.” He echoed Olivas’ call for a full and transparent explanation for the rescinded invitation, with the backing of the S&D group, according to a person familiar with discussions. 

Martín could not be contacted for comment. The Renew group did not immediately respond to POLITICO's requests for comment. The Spanish government declined to comment for this article.

One key Catalan politician said the row over which experts to invite to the hearing means lawmakers are barred from probing Spanish politicians, including some MEPs, about their own role in the Spanish spying scandal. Alba Vergés i Bosch, acting president of the Catalan parliament, accused the largest political groups of “protect[ing] their political allies in Spain.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
Close
0:00
0:00
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh slams New York Times' pro-government stance and treatment of sources
Fox News Settles their case with Dominion Voting Systems for a staggering $787.5 MILLION
The G-7 aims to make global crypto regulations tougher
China and Brazil have signed a new deal that will allow them to trade in their own currencies, bypassing the US dollar as an intermediary
Elon Musk and Others Call for Pause on A.I., Citing ‘Profound Risks to Society’
U.S. charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with paying $40 million bribe
Fallen 'Crypto King' Who Owes Millions to Investors Was Kidnapped and Tortured
Regulators blame social media for SVB's rapid collapse: 'Complete game changer'
AOC explains why she opposes banning TikTok
Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel Corporation, died at 94
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
A brief banking situation report
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
Being a Tiktoker might be expensive…
China's top tech firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, and JD.com, are developing their own versions of Open AI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT
This shocking picture, showing how terrible is the results of the earthquake in Turkey
The desk of King Carlos Alberto of Sardinia has many secret compartments
Charlie Munger, calls for a ban on cryptocurrencies in the US, following China's lead
First generation unopened iPhone set to fetch more than $50,000 at auction.
Almost 30% of professionals say they've tried ChatGPT at work
Interpol seeks woman who ran elaborate exam cheating scam in Singapore
What is ChatGPT?
Tesla reported record profits and record revenues for 2022
Microsoft is finalising plans to become the latest technology giant to reduce its workforce during a global economic slowdown
Tesla slashes prices globally by as much as 20 percent
After Failing To Pay Office Rent, Twitter May Sell User Names
FTX fraud investigators are digging deeper into Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle – and reportedly have ex-engineer Nishad Singh in their sights
TikTok CEO Plans to Meet European Union Regulators
U.S. Moves to Seize Robinhood Shares, Silvergate Accounts Tied to FTX
Coinbase to Pay $100 Million in Settlement With New York Regulator
FTX assets worth $3.5bn held by Bahamas securities regulator
Former FTX CEO Bankman-Fried finally arrested in Bahamas after U.S. files charges
Corruption works: House Financial Services Chair Waters doesn't plan to subpoena her donor, Sam Bankman-Fried, to testify at hearing on FTX collapse
Yellen hints at ‘national security’ probe into Twitter purchase
Elon Musk reinstates Donald Trump's Twitter account.
×