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Amnesty releases anti-government spyware

by on21 November 2014

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Freedom from the spooks

Human rights group Amnesty International has released software which snoops for evidence of government spying.

Amnesty says Detekt is the first tool freely available that will allow activists and journalists to find out if their PCs are being monitored without their knowledge.

Marek Marczynski, head of military, security and police at Amnesty, said: “Governments are increasingly using dangerous and sophisticated technology that allows them to read activists’ and journalists’ private emails and remotely turn on their computer’s camera or microphone to secretly record their activities. They use the technology in a cowardly attempt to prevent abuses from being exposed. Detekt is a simple tool that will alert activists to such intrusions so they can take action.”

Detekt was developed by Germany-based security researcher Claudio Guarnieri. It has been developed in partnership with Amnesty International, British charity Privacy International, German civil rights group Digitale Gesellschaft and US digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Marczynski added: “Detekt is a great tool which can help activists stay safe but ultimately the only way to prevent these technologies from being used to violate or abuse human rights is to establish and enforce strict controls on their use and trade.”

Marczynski said: “It represents a strike back against governments who are using information obtained through surveillance to arbitrarily detain, illegally arrest and even torture human rights defenders and journalists.”

 

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