A surveillance technology that can identify the location of a phone anywhere in the world in just seconds with only a telephone number has been detected in 25 countries.Spyware companies claim to sell their wares only to governments fighting crime and terrorism but it is all too easy for these tools to be used by repressive regimes to attack human rights.

NSO Group’s advanced Pegasus spyware was identified on phones of at least 36 journalists and media executives in July and August 2020, according to the University of Toronto-based Citizen Lab, which said the surveillance product was installed via a vulnerability in the iPhone messaging application. Most targets were affiliated with the Qatar-headquartered Al-Jazeera media network, according to Al-Jazeera English; Citizen Lab said a journalist at London-based Al-Araby TV was also targeted.

The tech was supplied by the Israeli business Circles, claimed Citizen Lab, a University of Toronto…