A phone tapping scandal involving Greek politicians and journalists forces the government to implement a blanket prohibition on the sale of spyware.
The move follows suspicions that politicians and business personalities are being watched by the state as reported by a newspaper, Al Jazeera writes.
The Greek Government Was Assumed Responsible For The Wiretaps
The Greek government quickly denied the wiretapping allegations, and has decided to ban the sale of spyware altogether to avoid other similar incidents in the future.
While the government says that this was, in no way, an admission of guilt, they still would not allow phone-tapping scandals to poison the minds of Greek society.
This comes after the left-wing newspaper Documento released a list of names of people whose phones are allegedly bugged by a spyware.
In July, European parliament member Nikos Androulakis discovered that he had been targeted by a mobile spyware called "Predator."
"Predator" infiltrates and steals data from mobile devices, which are then sold to the North Macedonian company Cytrox, Gizmodo details.
At that time, it was Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who was at the receiving end of accusations, as suspicions were raised that the culprit for the wiretapping might be the government.
The prime minister denied the accusations, claiming that the reports were unfounded since there was no evidence that the cabinet was behind the surveillance, Al Jazeera says.
Even the Greek government's spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou says that the state had not purchased and used any spyware, and added that the authorities will be investigating the reports.
However, the investigation proved that the Greek intelligence service did monitor Androulakis, but the government denies the use of Predator in any way.
Because of this, the Documento report developed into a big scandal called "Watergate," sparking political uproar in the country.
The Scandal Is Nowhere Near Its End As More Victims Surface
Since the news first broke, more victims of wiretapping, mostly politicians and journalists, have discovered that their phones had Predator on them.
Because of this, the scandal grew bigger, sparking a slew of resignations from members of the government which included the country's intelligence chief.
According to Gizmodo, the Greek government continues to deny their involvement in the wiretapping scandal, and has since ordered a ban on the sale of spywares in the country.
As of the moment, a special European parliamentary committee (PEGA) is investigating the use of Predator and other similar surveillance spyware.
Swiss Info reports that the special committee paid a visit to Greece and Cyprus last week amid the phone-tapping scandal.
PEGA's committee delegation member Sophia In 'T Veld tells Greek reporters that the matter needs to be urgently clarified by next year since Greece is having their elections in 2023.
Despite the scandal, Greece sets a good precedent for other countries in the world who still let the spyware industry thrive in their areas.
Across Europe, spyware scandals have been putting governments in risky situations as other European Union members still use these tools purchased legally from cyber weapons markets.
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