Kalinak: Current Law Precludes Use of Pegasus Spyware

Bratislava, September 4 (TASR) - Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) considers a report of Dennik N daily about the acquisition of Pegasus spyware untrue and also evidence that its authors lack understanding of the matter, pointing out that running such a system would violate Slovak legislation, TASR learnt on Wednesday. "In addition, this system is not easy to procure. It's extremely expensive and even running it is costly," Kalinak stated after a session of the government. In a similar vein, the report was denied also by Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD), who claimed to have no information about such a procurement. Earlier in the day, representatives of the opposition voiced concerns regarding potential unprecedented disruption of the privacy and security of Slovak citizens and asked for the restoration of the House Special Session for the Supervision of the Slovak Intelligence Service, which has been left dysfunctional. "If the secret service really has this potentially dangerous and very controversial tool at its disposal, it's a threat to the privacy of every individual. And if its use is unchecked, it's a fundamental threat to democratic principles," warned PS MP Zuzana Stevulova. "Already back in June, I was warning that the government wants to spy more on its citizens. Now we learn that secret services might have a spyware at their disposal that can monitor almost everyone on your smartphone," stated KDH lawmaker Frantisek Majersky. He demands that the SIS director appear before the lawmakers and give clear answers as to whether SIS uses or plans to use Pegasus. In her response for TASR, SIS spokesperson Zuzana Moravkova explained that all methods and technology employed for intelligence gathering are confidential. "Because of this, due to the law, it is not possible to provide any closer information," she said. According to Dennik N, SIS likely acquired a capability to monitor microphones, cameras and displays of mobile phones as well as access content of all chat apps, including those under encryption. This system is supposed to be Pegasus spyware. mf/mcs