{"id":32899,"date":"2021-08-09T16:19:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T16:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=32899"},"modified":"2021-08-11T17:22:52","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T17:22:52","slug":"organizations-file-legal-challenge-against-spyware-contract","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/organizations-file-legal-challenge-against-spyware-contract\/","title":"Organizations file legal challenge against spyware contract","content":"<div class=\"tts_content_wrapper_1\" ><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four civil society organizations filed on Tuesday, August 3, a petition for the Federal Audit Court to prevent the Ministry of Justice and Public Security from contracting the Harpia spyware system, which was recorded in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.br\/mj\/pt-br\/acesso-a-informacao\/licitacoes-e-contratosv1\/licitacoes-e-contratos-segen\/cglic\/cpl\/copy64_of_pregoes-02_2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> an electronic auctio<\/a>n of the federal government for the \u201cacquisition of an Open Source Intelligence Solution for Social Media and Deep and Dark Web\u201d. The petitioners are Conectas, Igarap\u00e9 Institute, Sou da Paz Institute and Transparency International.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harpia Tech, responsible for the service, won a bidding process staged by the Ministry of Justice for the contracting of spying services. To begin with, as exposed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uol.com.br\/tilt\/noticias\/redacao\/2021\/07\/19\/quem-esta-na-mira-do-sistema-de-espionagem-israelense-pegasus.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an article on the UOL web portal<\/a>, the ministry was interested in buying the Pegasus surveillance software. This system, developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, has been used by dozens of governments in different countries to hack the mobile phones of political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders. However, the company withdrew from the negotiations with the Brazilian government due to alleged irregularities.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/interview-the-risks-to-democracy-of-digital-surveillance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Interview: The risks of digital surveillance to democracy<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/in-an-open-letter-more-than-130-organizations-and-experts-ask-governments-to-implement-a-moratorium-on-the-use-of-surveillance-technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In an open letter, organizations call for a moratorium on the use of surveillance technology<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Lack of transparency in the bidding process&nbsp;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the petition, the organizations state that although NSO Group had already withdrawn, the main problem was the lack of transparency in the handling of this bidding process, preventing \u201cthe population from knowing the limits of exactly what is being contracted with public money\u201d. In this regard, and again according to the petition, \u201cwe can see that the contracted solution, offered by the company Harpia Tech, is also potentially harmful to the public interest, which makes the investment of public funds in its purchase a highly questionable endeavor\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The organizations went on to say that the Harpia tool is quite dangerous because \u201cit can make use of data resulting from hacks, leaks and exploits, as well as virtual crimes\u201d and because there are no control mechanisms planned to prevent potential abuse. Another point raised by the petitioners is that the possibility of making the service available to more than 200 public agencies, including the security forces, makes the potential damage even greater.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/organizations-decry-irregularities-in-bid-to-purchase-alleged-spy-tool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prior complaint to the Federal Audit Cour<\/a>t, the same organizations warned about possible irregularities in the federal government\u2019s bidding process: inadequacy of the bidding model chosen; overstepping of authority and violation of the principle of legality; and illegality of the item contacted, since the system will be used for surveillance, which is incompatible with the Democratic State and may constitute a misuse of its power.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"tts__custom-position_bottom_fixed\" ><\/div>","excerpt":"<p>Four civil society organizations filed on Tuesday, August 3, a petition for the Federal Audit Court to prevent the Ministry of Justice and Public Secu&#8230;<\/p>\n","author":26,"featured_media":32840,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7],"tags":[13014,13091],"tema":[12278],"class_list":["post-32899","noticia","type-noticia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-pegasus-en","tag-spyware","tema-democracy-and-human-rights-movement"],"acf":{"subtitle-pt":"The case aims to block the contracting of Harpia, which won the bidding process organized quietly by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security","links_para_referencia":false,"author":{"ID":26,"user_firstname":"Gabriel","user_lastname":"Guerra","nickname":"gabriel.guerra","user_nicename":"gabriel-guerra","display_name":"Gabriel Guerra","user_email":"","user_url":"","user_registered":"2021-03-15 20:54:31","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo avatar-default' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"spyware","title":"","metadesc":"The case aims to block the contracting of Harpia, which won the bidding process organized quietly by the Ministry of Justice and Public 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