CDT Joins NGOs Letter Urging EU Targeted Sanctions Against NSO Group
CDT has signed a joint letter initiated by Human Rights Watch, along with independent experts, international NGOs, and civil society groups from across all continents, to call on the European Union to take serious and effective measures against Israeli NSO Group following credible revelations that Pegasus Spyware was used to hack the devices of six Palestinian human rights activists.
The letter urges the EU, by virtue of its prerogative to adopt targeted sanctions against entities deemed responsible for serious violations or abuses of fundamental rights, to designate and put NSO Group on its global sanction list and – until adequate human rights safeguard are in place – adopt measures to prohibit the sale, transfer, export, import, and use of the group’s technologies, as well as the provision of services that support NSO Group’s products.
CDT and other signatories strongly denounce the systemic targeting of Palestinian human rights defenders through the Pegasus Software, and note how NSO Group’s human rights policy fails to prevent and mitigate human rights abuse in a meaningful way. CDT previously joined another joint open letter to call on governments to investigate the sale and export of surveillance technology, emphasizing the threats of the use of targeted digital surveillance tools such as Pegasus on democracy and fundamental rights.
British Public Oppose Secret Surveillance Powers and Want Strong Protections for Encrypted Communications
CDT released nationally representative polling data revealing that a the British public are broadly concerned about the security, privacy, and free speech consequences of allowing law enforcement to access encrypted communications.
Responding to the EU-US Negotiations on Reciprocal Data Exchanges for Border Procedures
CDT Europe, together with 29 other civil society organisations and academics, sent an open joint letter to the Council of the EU regarding the worrying direction taken by the European Commission in the EU-US border negotiations with the U.S. government.
Open Joint Letter on a Public Reassessment of the EU-US Adequacy Decision
On 29 June, the US Supreme Court ruled that US President Trump can remove the leaders of independent agencies and commissions, overturning nearly 90 years of precedent limiting executive power. This decision raises serious questions about one of the key safeguards underpinning the EU-US Data Privacy Framework adopted in 2023: independent supervision.
Return of Mass Scanning of Private Communications through Undemocratic Procedure
CDT Europe responds to the European Parliament's vote to revive the interim derogation from the ePrivacy Directive, commonly known as “Chat Control 1.0”, which provides the legal basis for the voluntary, indiscriminate scanning of private communications for known and new Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and for the solicitation of children.
