Spyware isn’t just a privacy issue — it’s a threat to the very foundations of our democratic values. By undermining independent decision-making, restricting public debate, and silencing journalists and activists, spyware erodes the pillars of a healthy civic space.
As new European Union institutions prepare to take office following the EU elections, the growing threat of spyware has become a pressing global concern that demands immediate attention.
On Tuesday 3/9, Homo Digitalis joined Center for Democracy and Technology Europe (CDT Europe), alongside 30 civil society and journalists’ organisations in publishing a joint statement urging the incoming EU institutions to prioritise action against the misuse of spyware in the new legislative term.
Some of our coalition’s key recommendations include:
- A ban on the production, sale, and use of spyware that disproportionately harms fundamental rights.
- Stronger export controls to prevent the misuse of these technologies beyond the EU.
- Transparency and accountability in government contracts involving spyware.
As Silvia Lorenzo Perez, Director of CDT Europe’s Security, Surveillance & Human Rights Programme, puts it: “The incoming EU institutions have the opportunity to correct the failures of the last legislature by taking concrete and decisive action against the abuse of spyware surveillance.”
The new EU institutions must seize this moment to restore public trust, protect our fundamental rights, and uphold the values that define the Union.
You can read the EN version of the letter here, and the EL version of the letter here.
Homo Digitalis has also addressed related concerns, before the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights in a recent Open Letter submitted in August. You can read more about this here.