

Possible student response: Smartphones can capture and store images, video and sound (including human speech). What type of information can smartphones sense and measure? What type of sensors are not currently permission-protected? Finally, all groups should work together to answer the questions below.ġ. Each “section expert” should summarize his or her section of the article so that the new group has a summary of the whole article. Next, assign new groups, each including at least one “section expert” from each of the original four groups. Allow time for each expert group to discuss and summarize its segment. The sections include: “Message revealed,” “Tagalong,” “Sensor safeguards” and “The price of privacy.” Each group should also be assigned to read the introduction. For example, divide your class into four groups, and assign each group a section to become an expert on. ”ĭue to the length of the article, you may want to assign each section of the article to a specific group of students. The hacking took place in May and June 2021 at the height of a major dispute between Spain and Morocco which was only resolved earlier this year.These question are based on the feature article “ Smartphones overshare. In May, the Spanish government revealed that the mobile phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and several other top ministers had been hacked using Pegasus software.Īlthough the government did not know what information was extracted from the phones or who was behind it, it was convinced it was "an external attack." Rabat has categorically denied the allegations and quickly moved to file defamation suits in France against Amnesty and the French NGO as well as other media outlets.īut the claims were ruled inadmissible by the courts in March.Īccording to Forbidden Stories, Cembrero's mobile was one of a number of phones singled out "for targeting" with Pegasus. Morocco was singled out as one of the countries that had bought the program from NSO Group and whose intelligence services had used the spyware against journalists. The list included the mobile numbers of human rights defenders, political opponents, business executives and even heads of state.

Their numbers appeared on a list of more than 50,000 people selected for surveillance that was leaked to French NGO Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, who then shared the information with more than a dozen media organizations. "RSF denounces these repeated attacks on this journalist and reaffirms its support for his freedom to work."Īccording to the Pegasus investigation published in July 2021, the mobile phones of at least 180 journalists in 20 countries were flagged as targets for surveillance by clients of the spyware's manufacturer, Israeli firm NSO Group. "Accused of using Pegasus spyware, the Moroccan authorities are suing journalist Ignacio Cembrero, himself a victim of this spying, for defamation," it tweeted. The Moroccan lawsuit against Cembrero was promptly denounced by media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

#Phone spy data extractor trial#
"It's a political trial to curtail journalists' freedom of expression," he tweeted. He has said it is "the fourth time" Morocco had sued him in Spain but the first time it had demanded he "retract" claims Rabat was responsible for spying with Pegasus software. "Morocco is taking me to court for accusing it of spying with Pegasus," he tweeted Monday. "The Kingdom of Morocco is not involved in spying on Ignacio Cembrero nor on any other citizen" and "does not have the Pegasus program," the lawyer representing Rabat said.Ĭembrero had also flagged the lawsuit on his Twitter account. Last year, an investigation by 17 media organizations accused Morocco of using the Israeli-made spyware, which infiltrates mobile phones in order to extract data or to activate a camera or microphone to spy on their owners.Īccording to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP, Morocco is demanding that Cembrero withdraw his allegations and pay Morocco's legal costs. The complaint against Ignacio Cembrero, an expert on Spain-Morocco relations who works for El Confidencial news website, was accepted by a court in Madrid, a spokesperson for the regional court authority said. Morocco has filed a lawsuit against a Spanish journalist who claimed his mobile phone was targeted by Pegasus spyware planted by Rabat, judicial sources said Monday.
