Pegasus Controversy: Shashi Tharoor demands independent probe

Telephone numbers of some 40 Indian journalists figure in a “leaked list of potential targets for surveillance” and forensic tests were said to have “confirmed that some of them were successfully snooped upon by an unidentified agency using Pegasus software”, The Wire, an independent news website, reported on Sunday night. Now reacting on the controversy, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called for an independent investigation into Pegagus. On Sunday night he tweeted "GoI has denied resorting to unauthorized surveillance. The question this raises is, if Pegasus is only sold to governments, which other govts (China/Pak?) are using it to snoop on prominent Indian citizens? Shouldn't the authorities call for an independent investigation?"

Calling the snooping allegations false and malicious, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has said that there has been no unauthorised interception by government agencies. “The allegations regarding government surveillance on specific people has no concrete basis or truth associated with it whatsoever,” the ministry said in a statement. It said that the government is committed to ensuring the right to privacy of all its citizens." For the unversed, Pegasus, is a spyware developed by an Israeli company NSO Group that is used for hacking phones. Pegasus had made headlines in 2016 when it emerged that it unsuccessfully attempted to hack the mobile phone of UAE human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor. He had received text messages on his iPhone promising 'new secrets' about tortured prisoners in the country if he opened a link in the SMS. Instead of following the instructions, Mansoor sent the messages to researchers at Citizen Lab, who traced the origin of the links back to infrastructure belonging to the NSO Group. Pegasus spyware is believed to be the most sophisticated among all such products available in the market. It can easily infiltrate iOS, Apple's mobile phone operating system, and Android devices. Pegasus was meant to be used by governments on a per-license basis.