It is the most significant cyber espionage case since Edward Snowden’s revelations of mass surveillance involving the NSA (National Security Agency) in 2013. On July 18, 2021, Forbidden Stories, the collaborative international media platform (including “Le Monde”, “The Guardian”, “The Washington Post”, “Haaretz”, “Die Zeit”, etc., which has made it its mission to publish investigations prevented by criminal groups (companies or governments), makes a sensational revelation: eleven countries have spied on politicians, heads of state or government – among them, Emmanuel Macron -, members of royal families, journalists and human rights activists, all over the world. It was a data leak that alerted journalists to Forbidden Stories. No less than 50,000 telephone numbers are potentially targeted between 2016 and 2020.
At the hands of authoritarian heads of state
Their investigation will reveal the involvement of Pegasus, one of the most intrusive spyware in the world, created by the company NSO Group in Israel. While returning to the painstaking work carried out by the journalistic collective, Anne Poiret follows her own leads. How does software initially sold as a weapon intended for tracking down criminals or terrorists end up in the hands of authoritarian heads of state (Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, etc.) to monitor their opponents? Why, while the Americans reacted firmly to the scandal, did the European states – including France – concerned by espionage take so little action? Only a handful of European parliamentarians are trying to move the regulations.
All the speakers questioned by the director appear rather pessimistic: even if the company NSO Group, strongly impacted by the revelations, would disappear, the cybertechnology sector remains wild. “We cannot bury these technologiesinsists Carmen Aristegui, journalist at CNN and victim of espionage herself, we need rules and transparency in their use. That’s enough ! »
Tuesday May 16 at 11:35 p.m. on Arte. Documentary by Anne Poiret and Arthur Bouvart (2023). 1h33. (Available in replay until November 18, 2023 on Arte.tv).
