EDRi attributes the industry's growth to legal loopholes and weak oversight.
Digital rights advocacy group EDRi is urging the European Union to enact a total ban on all aspects of commercial spyware.
Citing its widespread abuse and the absence of effective regulatory safeguards, Cybernews reports that an EDRi position paper warns that spyware poses a serious threat to democracy, fundamental rights, and cybersecurity, with at least 14 EU countries reportedly having deployed it to surveil journalists, activists, and political figures.
The organisation attributes the industry's growth to legal loopholes and weak oversight, which have allowed Europe to become a hub for spyware development and export. Despite mounting evidence of misuse, the EU has yet to take legislative action.
EDRi calls for prohibiting not only spyware sales and exports, but also the operation of vendors and the commercial trade of security vulnerabilities. It also demands that victims of surveillance be given access to judicial remedies and reparations. Only a complete ban, EDRi argues, can reverse the erosion of democratic norms and protect civil liberties.
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
