Two prominent Thai activists have launched legal action accusing Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s government of using Pegasus spyware to infiltrate their mobile devices during a campaign of anti-government demonstrations in late 2020 and early 2021.
According to The Associated Press, human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa and legal reform advocate Yingcheep Atchanont filed a lawsuit yesterday accusing nine state agencies of unlawfully violating their privacy by using the spyware app, which is produced by the Israeli cybersecurity company NSO Group. Among those are the Office of the Prime Minister, the Royal Thai Police, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, and the three branches of the armed forces.
The AP reports that the pair have requested an immediate court injunction barring the use of Pegasus, and for the court to order the government to release the data on its use. They have also demanded compensation of 2.5 million baht ($72,000) each.
The Pegasus spyware, which came to prominence due to a joint global media investigation last year, is particularly dangerous because of its ability to carry out “zero-click exploits.” These enable it to be installed remotely onto a target’s phone without the target having to click any links or download any malware.
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“Once it has wormed its way onto your phone, without you noticing, it can turn it into a 24-hour surveillance device,” The Guardian activists government alleged pegasus spyware
