Did The Mexican Government Spy On Journalists And Activists?

Several well-known journalists and activists in Mexico have accused authorities there of unjustly spying on them and hacking their phones. Their concerns grew after hearing about reports from both international and Mexican organizations, that spyware (software referred to as Pegasus) had allegedly been used by the state to invade the privacy of many journalists and activists who are outspoken against its policies.

The growing concern has resulted in an official complaint being filed with the Attorney General, by several victims of the spyware campaign.

They are looking for an independent investigation into the matter, they want the truth revealed about what sort of spying is taking place. And suspicions have been raised over the integrity of the investigation by the AG because the attorney general's office is allegedly one government agency who had purchased the Pegasus software.

Cyber-security experts just recently unveiled this week, that at least 19 different people were targeted with the spying; including international human rights officials. These human rights officials were tasked with looking into the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico that occurred several years ago.

It's alleged that text messages were sent to the targets and they included a link, trying to get the target to click on the attached URL which would then infect their phone with the Pegasus software.

Here is a sample of some of the messages that were allegedly sent to the targets:

Critics have called for an independent investigation into the matter but it isn't certain yet whether or not they will get their wish. If the government is guilty of these actions then critics suspect that it won't be too willing to embrace any sort of honest independent analysis and investigation of the events.

The Mexican president has said that the software has not been misused and he has promised that there will be a full and proper investigation into the matter.

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Pics:
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Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/06/20/mexican-journalists-accuse-government-spying-on-them-through-their-phones.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/world/americas/mexico-spyware-surveillance-journalists-activists-investigation.html
http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/spyware-in-mexico-targeted-international-experts/wcm/d3c21312-7bf1-4fb3-8367-052b194cb648
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/report-finds-investigators-missing-mexican-43-were-targets-spying-software-n781391
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/q-mexican-spying-scandal-061652219.html