Pegasus, actually. A winged horse from Greek mythologywhich the creators of the spyware program may have confused with the Trojan horse, which is much more similar in its purpose. Its operation is technologically complex and although, taking advantage of vulnerabilities in the operating systems, it has managed to work on occasions without the user of the spied-on phone clicking any link, the usual thing is that they do so naively.
Governments can use these programs, but always with judicial authorization. In Spain, this is only possible within the framework of a criminal investigation for a specific crime. But in the field of espionage activities of the National Intelligence Center it is a magistrate of the Supreme Court who must proceed with the authorization, specifying the reasons that lead to the violation of the privacy of the person being spied on. Regarding these reasons, the law applicable to the case is extremely sparse (Organic Law 2/2002, of May 6, regulating the prior judicial control of the National Intelligence Center), and it is necessary to go to Law 11/2002, of the same date , regulator of the National Intelligence Center, to discover that these reasons must be the same that justify the existence of the CNI: “to prevent and avoid any danger, threat or aggression against the independence or territorial integrity of Spain, national interests and the stability of the Rule of law and its institutions & rdquor ;.
The above wording is extraordinarily broad, certainly, but not everything goes. In a democracy, flies cannot be killed with cannon fire, and the fundamental rights of citizens must necessarily be preserved, including the right affected in these cases: the Right to privacy. Any restriction that is made of it cannot lead to the annulment of the right, and must respect in any case the principle of proportionality, which requires that the limitation of the right be the minimum essential to achieve its purpose. That is precisely what the authorizing magistrate must reason, and any excess in this matter must be avoided.
The resolution of the magistrate exists. His appointment is made for five years by the plenary session of the General Council of the Judiciary and is published in the Official State Gazette. In addition, the necessary transparency in the exercise of power that must exist in a democracy requires disclose the content of said resolution, that must be known at least by the commission for this purpose of the Congress of Deputies. The only information reserved, even for the members of that commission, is that relating to the sources and means used by the National Intelligence Center, as well as the data obtained through espionage that has nothing to do with the investigation undertaken and authorized by the magistrate, whose destruction may be ordered by the Government on its own authority, through the Secretary of State, Director of the National Intelligence Center.
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And the data obtained with the investigation that does have to do with it? The pre-constitutional law 9/1968 on court secrets It does not make it easy, although it requires reporting the reserved data to the Congress of Deputies and the Senate in secret sessions.
As can be verified, the possibilities of opacity of those who handle the information are enormous. The states consider, not without some testosterone arrogance, that all this is necessary to protect themselves. For years, both the United States and the United Kingdom have directly or indirectly promoted very popular films and novels to normalize the existence of this obscurantism in democracy, thus legitimizing it among an extraordinarily naive population, who passionately follow James Bond or vomiting types. like the one depicted by the recent movie ‘Nobody’. He even feels proximity and complicity with them. Perhaps they are unaware that this shadowy space of democracy is the same as a torture room. A place where rights do not exist, the person is annulled and it is possible for anyone to die without a trace, without the libertarian joy of the “highway to hell & rdquor; of the unforgettable AC/DC song. Perhaps all this does not bother you, but it should.