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Italian lawmakers say Italy used spyware to target phones of immigration activists, but not against journalist | TechCrunch

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Summary
Nutrition label

84% Informative

An Italian parliamentary committee confirms that the Italian government used spyware made by the Israeli company Paragon to hack activists working to save immigrants at sea.

The committee said its investigation concluded that a prominent Italian journalist was not among the victims.

But key questions about the spyware attacks remain unanswered, leaving key questions unanswered.

COPASIR investigated the cases of Mattia Ferrari , the chaplain on the rescue ship of Mediterranea Saving Humans ; and David Yambio , the president and co-founder of the non-government organization Refugees in Libya .

The national anti-mafia prosecutor said no prosecutor's office in Italy had acquired nor used Paragon ’s spyware.

The committee also uncovered details about the relationship between Paragon and its Italian intelligence customers, AISE and AISI.

VR Score

81

Informative language

77

Neutral language

68

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

74

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

19

https://www.sicurezzanazionale.gov.it/chi-siamo/organizzazione/dishttps://www.vice.com/en/article/government-spyware-maker-doxes-itself-by-linking-to-its-site-in-malware-code/https://citizenlab.ca/2025/03/a-first-look-at-paragons-proliferating-spyware-operations/https://mediterranearescue.org/enhttp://theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/25/italian-priest-close-to-the-pope-was-target-of-high-level-surveillance-he-revealshttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/10/fanpage-the-italian-website-that-went-from-gossip-to-award-winning-scoopshttps://www.vice.com/en/article/malware-hunters-catch-new-android-spyware-raxir/https://www.vice.com/en/article/hackers-hid-android-malware-in-google-play-store-exodus-esurv/https://www.sicurezzanazionale.gov.it/chi-siamo/organizzazione/aisehttps://www.vice.com/en/article/rcs-lab-government-spyware-infects-a-computer-in-this-leaked-demo-video/https://www.refugeesinlibya.org/https://documenti.camera.it/_dati/leg19/lavori/documentiparlamentari/IndiceETesti/034/004/INTERO.pdfhttps://www.vice.com/en/article/hacking-team-is-dead/https://www.vice.com/en/article/prosecutors-suspend-cy4gate-government-spyware-used-in-whatsapp-phishing-attacks/https://www.fanpage.it/politica/tutto-quello-che-non-torna-nella-relazione-del-copasir-sul-caso-paragon/http://fanpage.it/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/11/david-yambio-rights-activist-italy-phone-spywarehttps://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2025-06-05/ty-article/.premium/italy-admits-activists-were-hacked-with-israeli-spyware-but-not-journalists/00000197-3ff4-d079-ab97-7ff5bd8a0000https://www.sicurezzanazionale.gov.it/chi-siamo/organizzazione/aisi

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